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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF ALBANY, 

From the discovery of the Great River, in 1524, hy Verrazzaiio, to 

the present time, 

By ARTHUR JAMES WEISE, M. A. 

E. H. Bender, Albany, 71 & 73 State Street. 1884. 
8 vc, pp. 520, ilhistrated, cloth, $5.00. 

"Albanians have been looking forward with more than ordinary interest 
to the publication of ' The History of the City of Albany,' which has been 
prepared and compiled by Arthur James Weise, A. M., who has received 
the highest commendations for his careful researches, historical discoveries, 
and pleasing diction. * * * His narrative covers a period of 360 years, 
and is not only exhaustive but charming. The style of diction is easy and 
flowing, and the incidents narrated are fresh, animated and authentic." — 
Albany Evening Journal. 

" The print, paper and binding will commend the work, as well as the 
varied character of its interesting contents." — Albany Argus, 

" Hitherto, historians have led us to believe that Henry Hudson and the 
crew of the Half Moon were the first Europeans to survey the site of our 
city. But this impression is effaced by the convincing evidence presented 
in the History of Albany, written by Arthur James Weise, A. M., author 
of The Discoveries of America to the year 1525. As the first history of our 
city, it will no doubt be a very popular work, and will likely be the only 
one of the kind extant for many years." — Albany Press and Knickerbocker. 

" The book was greatly needed." — Cultivator and Country Gentleman, 
Albany. 

"The ' History of Albany,' by A. J. Weise, A. M., is a work of real 
value. It contains accurate and hitherto practically inaccessible informa- 
tiun. It is written with dispassionate and discriminating honesty, which is 
the very essence of safe and satisfactory history." — Right Rev. Willi.vm 
Croswell Doane, S. T. D., LL. D., Bishop of Albany. 

" Every page of this excellent historical work gives unmistakable evi- 
dence of careful and painstaking research. The book is printed in clear, 
handsome type, on choice paper, in elegant binding, and forms a beautiful 
volume. Every citizen of the State of New York who possesses a library, 
or who has ;i desire even to be classed among the intelligent of this genera- 
tion, either with or without a library of his own, cannot afford to miss it 
from his possession."— A/fl^'-fl's?;/^ of American History. New York. 

" It is a singular fact, and one hardly to the credit of Albany, that al- 
though she dates from 1624, yet this, ' The History of the City of Albany, 
N. Y.,' by A. J. Weise, A. M , is the first fairly adequate account of her 
rise and progress that has yet appeared. It was reserved for Mr. Weise to 
supplement and complete, and in some respects to supersede, the labors of 
Munsell and others with this creditable volume. Mr. Weise was well 
eciuipped for his task, and his work will add to his reputation." Neiv York 
Daily Tribune. 
1 



THE DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA, 

To the Year 1525, 
By ARTHUR JAMES WEISE, A. M. 

G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York : 27 & 29 West 23d Street. London : 
25 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. 1884. 
8 vo., pp. 380, cloth, $4.50. 

MAPS. 

1. A part.of the map of the world made by Juan de la Cosa in 1500. 

2. A part of the map of the world made by Johann Ruysch, contained 
in the edition of Ptolemy's geography printed in Rome in 1508. 

3. Map of the New World contained in Peter Martyr's "Legatio Baby- 
lonica " printed in 1511. 

4. A part of the map of the New World contained in the edition of 
Ptolemy's geography printed in Slrasburg in 15 13. 

5. A tracing representing the limits of the discoveries of Juan Ponce de 
Leon and Francisco de Garay, 1521. 

6. A part of the map of the world made by Visconte de MaioUo, 1527. 

7. A part of the Cabot- map of 1544. 

8. Map of Terre de la Franciscane, 1545. 

9. Map of a part of North America, 1553. 

10. A part of the map of the world made by Gerard Mercator in 1569. 

11. Delineation of the hyperborean regions of Sigurd Stephanius in 
1570. 

12. A part of the map of the fourth part of the world, by Andie Thevet. 

1575- 

" The chief merit of Mr. Weise's book, and its distinguishing feature, 
is the compression in a single convenient volume, in a continuous narrative, 
arranged in chronological sequence, of all the authenticated records of voy- 
ages in North American waters and of discoveries on the mainland prior to 
1525. * * * To the general reader, who has neither the time nor the 
opportunity to consult, much less to study and compare, the multitude of 
scattered books and manuscripts in which the narratives of the early voya- 
gers and discoverers, or of their historiographers, are preserved in minute 
and oftentimes tedious detail, Mr. Weise's epitome will prove an acceptable 
substitute, sufficiently full for all practicable purposes, and more trustwor- 
thy and intelligible than most of the early relations, especially since many 
of them were written in foreign languages. * * * His work is a model 
of carefulness and candoV, especially when dealing with rival or controvert- 
ed claims." — Harpers' New Monthly Magazine. 

" Mr. Weise has produced a charming as well as an exhaustive work on 
an obscure but by no means an uninteresting subject, and the general read- 
er may join with the antiquarian scholar in animated gratitude for the 
achievement. * * * The book is not top large for convenience, it is 
elegantly printed, and we know of no other which contains so well-con- 
densed and thorough an account of the discovery of America." — Magazine 
of American History, Nezu York. 



" This author has not satisfied himself with following 'standard ' author- 
ities, with repeating their errors and reaffirming their theories. He has 
gone to original sources, and, as generally with that kind of industry, he 
has found plenty of important matter that has been hitherto overlooked. 
His ' Discoveries of America' is a very thorough piece of scholarship. * * 
Mr. Weise writes for all cultivated people ; not only for the historical student, 
but for the teacher and all the 'general readers' who know what good books 
are. Thus, while he is careful to show his methods, to indicate his author- 
ities, and to outline the character of his researches and into what ground 
they led him, and while to this extent his book is severe, yet the agreeable- 
ness of his style is so ever present, and the story he has to tell is in itself so 
fascinating, that the book is as 'readable' as Prescott or Irving." — Evening 
Telegtaph, Philadelphia. 

" Mr. Weise's handsome valume, with fac-similes of many rare maps, ex- 
amples of the labors of former cosmographers, contains the gist of what is 
known in regard to the discovery of America." — New Yoi-k Titnes. 

" Mr. Weise furnishes a good synopsis of Vespucci's celebrated narrative, 
and a still better one of the striking story of Verrazzano. * * * The 
reader will find an explanation of the derivation of ' Manhattan' from the 
French manants, a name formerly applied to persons of low condition, and 
used by the first explorers to designate the aborigines of New France." — 
Nexv York Daily Tribune. 

" In the thorough and scholarly work before us, Mr. Weise has not only 
rendered valuable service to the reading public, but has made an extremely 
importan*. addition to the political and geographical history of the American 
continent." — The World, New York. 

" He has not written for specialists, but for plain people who care more 
for the totality of what is presented to them than for a nice discussion of 
disputed points." — The Mail and Express, New York. 

"The volume brings together information which otherwise would lie 
widely apart, scattered through books, many of which are rare, and many 
others inaccessible to general readers. * * * It will prove a welcome 
and useful addition to the history of the New \Nor\di.— The Independent, 
New York. 

" Mr. Weise has searched far and wide in the libraries of Europe and 
America to gather the material for his work, and the result shows that his 
labors have been to good purpose."— The Nezv York Observer. 

" The value of this volume, as a record of the different discoveries, is 
unquestionable." — Boston Daily Advertiser. 

" Every library should have this record of the authentic accounts of the 
discoveries made by the ancients on the Western Continent."— AVw Eng- 
land Journal of Educatmt. 

•' The volume is a monument of special study, and a work which will 
take a deservedly high rank." — The Hartford Courant. 

" It is not often the reader will find a history more charmingly written. 
* * * The valuable facts of its chapters attest the rare good judgment 
and scholarly acquirements of the ax\l\iox:—Inter.Ocean, Chicago. 



" This book bears the marks of industrious research in fields that have 
not yet been overworked, and which offer irresistible allurements to the his- 
torical inquirer." — Popular Science Monthly. 

" Eight years of earnest study and research have been devoted by Mr. 
Arthur James Weise to preparing and perfecting his admirable and instruc- 
tive work, wherein is displayed throughout a high order of narrative and 
descriptive skill." — Times-De?iiocrai, New Orleans. 

" Sustained by an ambition to gather in one volume, embellished with 
many quaint maps, all the authorities possible to be secured, he has 
afforded readers an impartial insight into that far-away realm — the early 
ages of America. It is an American book, permeated with the true Ameri- 
can instinct, and produced with proper scholarship, judgment and taste." — 
Hartford Post. 

" Students of history will be greatly interested in this volume." — Star, 
Washington. 

"A strong feature of the work is the number of valuable maps and 
charts of this country as it was known to the geographers of that remote 
period." — Times, Philadelphia. 



HISTORY OF THE CITY OF TROY, 

From the expulsion of the Mohegan Indians to the present centennial 
year of the independence of the United States of America, 1876, 

By A. J. WEISE, A. M. 

Troy, N. Y., William H. Young, 8 & 9 First Street. 1876. 

8 vo., pp. 400. illustrated, cloth, $3.50. 

" It more than fulfills the promise of Mr. Weise when he first announced 
his intention of undertaking so arduous a task." — Troy Daily Times. 

"A work which for many years will be the standard history of the city, 
and which, when it is displaced by subsequent publications, will become 
the foundation for all works of similar character." — Troy Daily Press. 

"Mr. Weise has given the public a history for which every man, woman 
and child claiming to be a Trojan should be grateful and thankful."— 7"//^ 
Troy Northern Budget. 

" One of the best and most carefully prepared local histories which we 
have seen." — Evening Post, New York. 



HISTORY OF LANSINGBURGH, N. V., 

From the year 1770 to 1877. 

By A. J. WEISE, A. M. 

Troy, N. Y., William H. Young, 8 & g First Street. 1877. 
S vo., pp. 44, cloth, $1.00. 



/' 



THE CITY OF TROY 



AND 



ITS VICINITY 



BY 



ARTHUR [AMES WEISE 




EDWARD GREEN 

TROY : 314 RIVER STREET 

1886 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1886, by 

Arthur James Weise, 
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



All rights reserved. 



r\ t 



t ^ 



PREFACE. 

In writing the History of the City of Troy in 1876. my lime was too lim- 
ited to permit a satisfactory presentation of the city's industries, so long 
having wide fame in the United States and in foreign countries. Induced 
by the desire of those conceiving that a work including the events and cu- 
cumstances of the settlement and growth of Troy, and the causes and 
issues of the origin and development of her manufactures should be pre- 
pared while there was opportunity to obtain reliable information from per- 
sons connected and contemporary with the beginning and expansion ot 
these local undertakings, I began the inviting and yet toilsome task accom- 
plished in the publication of this unpretentious volume. 

Within the period of the century, from 1786 to 18S6, beginning with the 
first occupation of the site of Troy by emigrants from the New England 
Stales I have grouped, under the different subject-headings, the pnnc.pal 
facts appertaining to the history of the village and city. Should the one 
hundredth anniversary of the naming of the place, Troy, be celebrated m 
1880. much of this information will make the event more significant and 
memorable. Troy is not only noted for the manufacture of collars, cuffs, 
shirts, horseshoes, iron, steel, stoves, cars, railroad rails, surveying instru- 
ments, church hells, chains, knitting and laundry machine.y, but enjoys 
the distinction of distributing her productions in more countries than any 
other city in the United States of like population and wealth. The infor- 
mation I have presented respecting her banks, churches, schools, newspa- 
pers. charitable and other institutions, will, I doubt not. be appreciated by 
those desiring knowledge of the city's history. 

ARTHUR JAMES WEISE. 
Troy, N. Y.. September 18, 1886. " 



TO 

WILLIAM H. YOUNG, 

THE PUBLISHER OP THE AUTHDR's FI RST HISTORY OK TR( iY, 

THIS WORK 

IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. 



POSTSCRIPT. 



The author is under many obligations to the large numbtr of persons 
contributing illustrations to this work. The kind favors of William Gur- 
ley, Lewis E. Gurley, Richardson H. Thurman, Reuben Teckham, William 
II. Young, and other gentlemen are gratefully acknowledged. Thanks are 
due to James L. Thompson for the engraving of the Day Home, and to 
James F. Cowee and to John W. Sherrerd for special courtesies. 



THE CITY OF TROY. 



Francis I., King of France, in 
1523, commissioned Giovanni da Ver- 
razzano, a Florentine, to discover new^ 
lands. In January, 1524, after touch- 
ing at the Deserted Islands, off the 
west coast of Africa, he sailed west- 
wardly toward the unexplored part of 
North America, between Nova Scotia 
and Florida. He came in sight of 
the continent at the thirty-fourth par- 
allel, near Cape Fear, on the coast of 
North Carolina. Coasting northward- 
ly, he discovered, late in April, the 
Bay of New York, where he beheld 
the noble stream, now called the 
Hudson, flowing into it from the 
north. 

The domain, which France had ac- 
quired by right of discovery, was first 
called Francesca. After Verrazzano's 
voyage, the Great {Grande) River, as 
the Hudson was then named, was fre- 
quently ascended by French traders 
to obtain furs from the tribes of In- 
dians living along its banks. On a 
map of the world made in 1569, by 
Gerard Mercator, the river is delineat- 
ed to the height of its navigation, at 
the mouths of the Mohawk River, op- 
posite the sites of Troy and Lansing- 
burgh. 

Henry Hudson, employed in 1609 
by the East India Company of Hol- 
land, to search north of Novaya Zem- 



lya for a navigable way to Asia, find- 
ing an impassable barrier of ice en- 
girdling the Arctic Ocean, gave his 
officers and crew the choice of two 
proposals : one to come to the coast 
of North America, at the fortieth par- 
allel of latitude, to search for a river 
or strait by which he might pass from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean ; 
the other, to seek a passage at Da- 
vis's Strait. The first field of explo- 
ration was preferred, not only because 
it wa^ in a warmer region, but on ac- 
count of Hudson's inclination to make 
the voyage, inasmuch as Captain John 
Smith had sent him letters and maps 
from Virginia, showing, as the former 
thought, that it was possible for the 
English navigator to sail from the 
north part of America and reach the 
Pacific Ocean, supposed at that time 
to be not far west of the settlement 
on the James River. 

When Hudson ascended the Great 
River, the Indians informed him that 
the French had been coming in sloojjs 
to the height of its navigation to trade 
with them. Finding that he could go 
no farther in the Half Moon than the 
site of Waterford, Hudson sailed 
homeward. 

The information respecting the 
large quantities of beaver and otter 
skins to be obtained from the natives 



2 



inhabiting the region of the Great 
{Groote) River, as the Hudson was 
first called by the Dutch, induced cer- 
tain capitalists of Holland to send a 
number of vessels to the river to traf- 
fic for peltry. The profitable re- 
turns of the ventures led to the organ- 
ization of the West India Company, 
of Holland, which in 1621, obtained a 
charter from the government, which 
granted the corporation the exclusive 
privilege of trading with the natives 
of that part of New France lying be- 
tween the fortieth and forty-fifth par- 
allels of north latitude. This terri- 
tory, discovered by Verrazzano in 
1524, and delineated on many rare 
maps made in the same century, the 
usurping Hollanders in 1614 called 
New Netherland. 

The members of the West India 
Company, desiring to increase its rev- 
enues, advertised in 1629 that any per- 
son belonging to the association get- 
ting fifty emigrants, over fifteen years 
of age, to settle within four years on 
a tract of land extending eight Dutch 
or sixteen English miles, on one side 
of a navigable river in New Nether- 
land, or one-half that length on oppo- 
site sides of a river, should be a pa- 
troon and the proprietor of the land 
on which the colony had been planted. 
In 1630, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, a 
pearl merchant of Amsterdam, began 
to send colonists to the North River, 
or, as it was also called, Hudson's 
River. He, having complied with 
the requirements of the West India 
Company, became the patroon of 
Rensselaerswyck, a manor twenty-four 
miles long and forty-eight wide, now 
included within the limits of Albany, 
Rensselaer and Columbia counties. 
The great estate is delineated on a 
parchment map, made about the year 
1631, and preserved in the archives of 
the Van Rensselaer family. The 
north , boundary line of the manor 
crossed the Hudson a little north of 



the confluence of the Mohawk ; its 
south one immediately below Beeren 
Island. 

The northeastern part of Rensse- 
laerswyck included the site of Troy, 
and was denominated on the map 
Pafraets Dael, (Pafraets' Part), so 
named, no doubt, in honor of Kiliaen 
Van Rensselaer's mother, who was 
called before her marriage Maria Pa- 
fraets, or Pafraats, as the name was 
sometimes written. On the map is a 
delineation of an Indian fort, called 
Unumats Casteel by the Dutch map 
maker. This palisaded village of the 
Mohegan Indians was seemingly on 
the north bank of the stream now 
known as the Poesten Kill. Some 
years before the map was made, the 
Mohegan tribe of Indians had pos- 
sessed the land on the east side of 
the Hudson, but they had been driven 
from it by the Mohawk Indians liv- 
ing along the Mohawk River. 

It is related by J. Romeyn Brod- 
head, the deceased historian, that the 
site of Troy was included in a tract 
of land purchased from the Indians 
on March 13, 1652, by the agent of 
the patroon of Rensselaerswyck, and 
that it was called Paanpaack. Wheth- 
er this be true or not, there is a con- 
firmation of a patent in the office of 
the Secretary of the State of New 
York, given by Richard Nicolls, the 
English governor, on April 13, 1667, 
to Sweer Theunissen, declaratory of 
his ownership of that part of the 
the " Great Meadow Ground " which 
was in the year 1659 purchased of the 
Indian proprietors by Jan Barentsen 
Wemp, with the leave and consent of 
Jan Baptist Van Rensselaer and Arent 
Van Corlaer. This tract of land, 
Sweer Theunissen sold on May 6, 
1679, to Pieter Van Woggelum. The 
latter enlarged his possession of this 
part of the site of Troy by purchas- 
ing of Robert Saunders, on Septem- 
ber 19, 1681, a part of the wood- 



8 



land called by the Indians Passquas- 
sick, lying south of the Piscawen Kill, 
a stream emptying into the hydraulic 
canal, near the sloop lock, at the 
state dam. On June 3, 1707, Derick 
Van der Heyden purchased the two 
tracts of land belonging to Pieter Van 
Woggelum, and extending along the 
Hudson River from the Poesten to the 
Piscawen Kill. In 1720, on a map 
made by Philip Verplanck of his sur- 
vey of Derick Van der Heyden's 
farm of 497 acres, two farm houses 
are delineated which appear to be 
near where now River and Ferry 
streets intersect. As the Van der 
Heyden farm lay witliin the limits of 
the manor of Rensselaerswyck, the 
Dutch farmer annually paid to the 
patroon a ground-rent, in lieu of all 
other dues, of three and three-fourths 
bushels of wheat and two fat hens or 
capons. In November, 1731, Derick 
Van der Heyden divided his farm, 
and conveyed an equal third part of 
it to each of his three sons, Jacob, 
David and Matthias. (See Troy.) 

Academies.— 

St. Mary's Commercial Acade- 
my, No. 237 Fourth Street, between 
Washington and Adams streets. The 
institution had its beginning in a free 
school established about the year 
1847, by the Rev. Peter Havermans, 
of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, 
in a building No. 239 Fourth Street, 
erected by him. About the year 
I852, the school was given the name 
of St. Joseph's Academy, and about 
the year 1866, that of the Christian 
Brothers' Academy. The name St. 
Mary's Commercial Academy was ta- 
ken in 1878, when the present build- 
ing was erected. A number of Broth- 
ers of the Christian Schools forms the 
corps of teachers. 

Troy Academy, northwest corner 
of State and Seventh streets. The 



act to incorporate the academy was 
passed May c, 1834. The act to re- 
vive tlie act incorporating it, and to 
unite it with the Rensselaer Institute, 
was passed May 8, 1837. The act 
made it lawful for the two institutions 
to become a corporate body, the 
Rensselaer Institute to be the depart- 
ment of experimental science, the 
academy the department of classic 
literature. On May 3, 1S3S, the trus- 
tees resolved to adopt Charles H. An- 
thony's school as the Troy Academy, 
and to accept from the city the use of 
the Lancasterian school-house, a frame 
building, filled in with brick, 65 by 35 
feet, two stories high, with a cupola, 
erected in 1816, on the lot on the 
northwest corner of State and Seventh 
streets. On May 8, the city conveyed 
to the trustees the school-house and 
the lot on which it was built. In the 
fall of the same year the first session 
of the academy was begun, Charles 
H. Anthony, piincipal, and John P. 
Isham, assistant teacher. On Febru- 
ary 5, 1839, the academy was placed 
under the supervision and visitation 
of the regents of the university. The 
building was burned in the fire of May 
10, 1862. The present building was 
erected on the site of the former, and 
completed in May, 1863. Since 1858, 
T. Newton Willson has been princi- 
pal of the academy. 

Adams' Island. (See Van Scha- 
ick's Island.) 

Albany. Under the West India 
Company, of Holland, a small colony 
of French Walloons with a few Dutch 
freemen was planted on the site of 
Albany, in May, 1624. The place 
was first called Fort Orange, the name 
of the small fort of logs and earth 
erected there that year. In 1652, the 
hamlet was named Beverswyck (Bea- 
ver Village), by Pieter Stuyvesant, 
the Dutch director of the West India 



Company. When surrendered to the 
English, in 1664, it was named 
Albany, in honor of James, Dake of 
York and Albany. The village, 
when repossessed by the Dutch, in 
1672, was called Willemstadt, in honor 
of William, Prince of Orange. In 
1674, when transferred to the English, 
it was again named Albany. It was 
chattered a city by Governor Thomas 
Dongan, July 22, 1686. Albany be- 
came the seat of the state govern- 
ment in 1797. The corner-stone of 
the first Capitol was laii^! April 23, 
1806 ; the corner-5tone of tlie present 
imposing edifice, June 24, 1871. Pop- 
ulation : 1790, 3,506; 1800, 5,349; 
iSio, 9,356 ; 1814, 10,083 ; 1820, 
12,541; 1825, 15,974; 1830, 24,238; 
1835, 28,109; 1840, 33,663; 1845, 
42,139; 1850, 50,763; 1855. 57.333; 
i860, 62,367; 1865, 62,613; 1S70, 
69,422; 1875, 86,013; 1880, ,0,903. 
Distsit from Troy seven miles. Half 
hourly trains kave Union Depot dai- 
ly for Albany and intermediate places 
on the " Beu Line " In summer a 
line of steamboats plies hourly be- 
tween the two cities. (See Steam- 
boats.) 

Albany Iron WorLs. (See 
Troy Steel and Iron Company.) 

Albia, in the fifth ward, is about 
25- miles southeast of the court-house. 
A map of the village was made in 
February, 1813, by William McMan- 
us. In Spafford's Gazetteer of the 
State of New York of 1824, Albia is 
described as "a scattered village of 
some 40 houses and about 200 inhabi- 
tants, 2-J [miles] from the city, in 
the 5th ward." The Albia Cotton 
Factory was then "an extensive and 
growing establishment, having 1,700 
spindles and 30 water power looms in 
operation, with a bleach." Below 
Albia village was " another bleaching 
establishment," where cloths were 



"bleached, dressed, callendered and 
neatly done up for 6 cents a pound, i 
to 2 cents a yard, on common cotton 
goods." The Pawling Avenue Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, the Third 
Presbyterian Church, and the Troy & 
Albia Horse Car Company's depot, are 
on the north side of Washington Street. 
The engine house of the Hope Steam 
Fire Engine Company, No 7, is on 
the south side of the street, near the 
Grist-mill road. Horse cars run to 
Albia half-hourly in the day-time from 
the intersection of Congress and River 
streets. 

American District Tele- 
graph Company. (See Tele- 
graph Companies.) 

American House, on the south- 
east corner of Third and Fulton 
streets, is one of the largest hotels in 
the city. 

Americas Club, organized No- 
vember 5, 1871, meets on Thursday 
evenings at No. 378 Second Street. 

Apollo Hall, on the second floor 
of the builr^ing on the southeast cor- 
nel of Congress and River streets, is 
occupied by the Troy Turn Verein. 

Apothecaries. — In the city 
there are about thirty-seven places 
where drugs and medicines are sold. 
Among the number of well-known 
apothecaries are 

Charles H. Bosworth, No. 312 
River Street, on the east side, between 
Franklin Square and Fulton Street. 
On May 15, 1882, he became propri- 
etor of this long-established drug and 
prescription store The business was 
begun in 1849 by Guidon B. Wallace, 
at No. 2S2 River Street. Henry H. 
Becker and Philip D. Hosford, of the 
firm of Becker & Hosford, succeeded 
to it in 1852. In 1853 they removed 



the store to No. 314 River Street. In 
1854, Henry H. Becker became pro- 
prietor of it. In 1856, Samuel O. 
Gleason purchased it, and continued 
in the business at No. 314 River Street 
until the fire of May 10, 1862, when 
the buildina: was burned. In August, 
that year, he took possession of the 
storeroom No. 312 River Street, where 
he remained in business until he was 
succeeded by Charles H. Bosworth. 
During the twenty-seven years in 
which the latter has been in the busi- 
ness, he was a member of the firm of 
C. H. Bosworth & Co., apothecaries, 
at the southeast corner of Bridge 
Avenue and River Street, and after- 
wards of the firm of H. C. Sheldon 
& Co., at No. 246 River Street. Be- 
sides drugs and proprietary medicines, 
he has a large variety of toilet prepa- 
rations, extracts, and powders. He 
has also many kinds of trusses, from 
which buyers can obtain any desirable 
shape. He has also a large stock of 
surgical appliances, splints, bandages, 
elastic stockings and abdominal sup- 
porters. He is agent for the Bethes- 
da Mineral Spring Company, of Wau- 
kesha, Wisconsin. The medicinal 
benefits of the Bethesda water in the 
treatment of the different forms of 
Bright's disease, and of diabetes, are 
well known, and many persons afflict- 
ed with kidney ailments have given 
testimonials of the therapeutic value 
of the water. It can be obtained at 
the store in small and large quantities. 
Beside keeping the Bethesda spring 
water on draught, he has the waters 
of the Saratoga springs on draught. 
He !s the sole agent for the sale of 
the Andrus patent porous buckskin 
under-garments in the city, and for 
the sale of Dr. Waters' celebrated 
pulmonica. He also fills orders for 
choice cut flowers. 

Robert Glass, southeast corner 
of Second and Madison streets. (See 
Addenda.) 



Herman Gnadendorff, No. 14 
Second Street, east side, between 
Broadway and State Street. (See 

Addenda.) 

Alexander M. Knowlson, No. 
350 Broadway. He possesses one of 
the most attractive drug, medicine 
and prescription stores in the city. 
Spacious, well-lighted, tastefully fur- 
nished, it presents those admirable 
features comporting with the business 
which he has so long and successfully 
conducted. His first predecessor, 
Charles Heimstreet, began it at No. 
10 State Street, in January, 1S36. The 
latter, in 1851, and his clerk, William 
E. Hagan, formed the partnership of 
Charles Heimstreet & Co. On the 
death of the senior partner, Novem- . 
ber 25, 1854, William E. Hagan, suc- 
ceeded to the business, which he con- 
ducted until 1858, when he and Fitz 
Henry Knight became partners in the 
firm of William E. Hagan & Co. In 
1861 F. H. Knight withdrew to enter 
the army. In November, 1862, Wil- 
liam E. Hagan moved his store to 
No. I First Street, south of the Troy 
House. On February 16, 1864, Alex- 
ander M. Knowlson purchased the 
stock and interest of William E. 
Hagan and continued in the business 
at the same place until January, 10, 
1871, when he moved to the building 
No. 350 Broadway. Besides having 
all the conveniences of a judiciously 
arranged pharmaceutical establish- 
ment, the store contains a large and 
expensive stock of drugs and medi- 
cines. Knowlson's 4711 cologne, 
tooth-wash, aromatic dentifrice, gly- 
cerine jelly, quinine hair-tonic, and 
other special toilet preparations sus- 
tain the high commendation bestowed 
upon them. In the prescription de- 
partment the best and finest drugs are 
used, and the compounding of them 
is done only by registered pharmacists. 
In the manufacture of butter of cocoa 
suppositories by the cold process, 




iz'^'m£^\ 



A. M. KNOWLSON S PHARMACY, 35O BROADWAY. 



which secures an equal distribution 
of the medicinal ingredients, Knowl- 
son's patent suppository machine is 
used. Being equal in weight and 
uniform in shape, the Knowlson sup- 
positories are superior to those differ- 
ently made. The mineral waters of 
Saratoga can be obtained on draught 
at the store in the natural condition 
in which they were taken from the 
different springs, being hydrostatically 
drawn from block-tin lined barrels by 
an automatic apparatus devised by 
Prof. D. M. Greene, of Troy. A. M. 
Knowlson also has for sale an exceed- 
ingly large collection of choice and 
rare roses and other cut flowers from 
numerous green houses in tlie vicinity 
of Troy and New York City. His 
command of any number or kind of 
flowers is almost unlimited, and per- 
sons desiring any for weddings, recep- 
tions, dinners or other entertainments, 
can obtain them at short notice by 
leaving orders at the store or by trans- 
mitting them by telephone. Bouquets 
and floral designs are made by an 
artist specially employed by him for 
such work. 

Edward F. Leahy, southeast cor- 
ner of Hoosick and North Second 
streets. (See Addenda.) 

David F. Magill, No. id King 
Street, east side. (See Addenda.) 

Cardinal H. Shacklady, north- 
west corner of Fulton and Fifth 
streets. (See Addenda.) 

Elijah \V. Stoddard, southwest 
corner of Congress and Third streets. 
(See Addenda.) 

Architects. — 

Brown & Dawson, room 12, sec- 
ond floor of Keenan Building, north- 
west corner of Broadway and Third 
Street. (See Addenda.) 



M. F. CUMMINGS, rooms 10 and 11 
Times Building, northeast corner of 
Broadway and Third Street. (See 
Addenda.) 

Clarence B. Cutler, room 4, 
Troy Savings Bank Building, north- 
east corner of Second and State 
streets. (See Addenda.) 

Armory, New York State, is 

on the southeast corner of Ferry and 
River streets. The state appropriated 
on March 15, 1883, $75,000 to pur- 
chase a site and erect on it a new 
armory for the military organizations 
in the city belonging to the National 
Guard. For the site of the building 
the International Hotel property and 
the lot and building south of it were 
purchased April 6, that year. In the 
spring of 1884, Brown & Dawson, 
architects, having furnished the plans 
and specifications, the erection of the 
armory was begun. The corner-stone 
was laid on July 4 in the presence of 
the Sixth, Twelfth and Twenty-First 
separate companies, the Fourth Bat- 
tery, the municipal authorities, and an 
assemblage of citizens, by Major-Gen- 
eral Joseph B. Carr, commanding the 
fifth brigade, third division of the 
National Guard. The Rev. William 
Taylor, of the Universalist Church, 
offered a prayer, the Hon. Martin I. 
Townsena delivered an address, and 
the Rev. J. Ireland Tucker, D. D., 
of the Church of the Holy Cross, 
pronounced a benediction. The me- 
tallic box placed in the cavity of the 
corner-stone contained histories of the 
military companies present, a copy of 
the act appropriating the money to 
erect the armory, a lithograph of the 
building, a history of its site, copies 
of the city newspapers, and a volume 
of the History of the city of Troy, 
1876, by A. J. Weise, presented by 
the publisher, William H. Young. 
The building was completed and oc- 



cupied in March, 1886. The front- 
age of the armory on Ferry Street is 
130 feet ; depth on River Street, i£0 
feet. The height of the west tower 
from the pavement is 88 feet ; that of 
the east one, 84 feet. The company 
rooms in the front part of the build- 
ing are entered from the hall, :2 
feet wide, extending to the drill-room, 



were contributed by the different com- 
panies to furnish their respective 
rooms. 

The Fourth Battery (Troy City 
Artillery,) rooms aie i, 2 and 3, on 
the first floor, on the west side of the 
hall. Those of the Sixth Sepa- 
rate (Infantry) Company, (Troy Citi- 
zens' Corps,) are 7, 8 and 9 on the sec- 




NEW YORK STATE ARMORY, CORNER FERRY AND RIVER STREETS. 



which is 100 by 130 feet, and has a 
gallery on the north side. On the 
west side of the basement is an artil- 
lery room, 38 by 100 feet. Besides 
the appropriation of ^75,000, the state 
made another of $10,000 to complete 
the armory. The county of Rensse- 
laer, in the spring of 1S83, appropri- 
ated $7,000 toward the purchase of 
the site. About $10,000 additional 



ond floor, immediately over those of 
the Fourth Battery. The west octag- 
onal room on the third floor is occu- 
pied by the Old Guard of the Troy 
Citizens' Corps. The rooms of the 
Twenty-First Separate (Infantry) 
Company (Tibbits' Cadets,) are 4, 5 
and 6 on the first floor, on 'he east 
side of the hall. Those of the 
Twelfth Separate (Infantry) Com- 



9 



pany (Tibbits* Sons of Veterans) are 
lO, II and 12, on the second floor, 
above those of the Twenty-First Com- 
pany. The company has also an oc- 
tagonal room on the third floor. 

The homestead of Jacob D. Van 
der Heyden, known as the Patroon 
of Troy, once occupied a part of the 
site of the armory. On February 9, 
1803, he conveyed the property to his 
son, Derick Y., who removed the "old 
ferry-house " and erected on its site 
a two-story, brick dwelling. Some 
years afterward, Derick Y. Van der 
Heyden went to the island of Santa 
Cruz, West Indies, to recuperate his . 
failing health, but he was not benefited 
by the change of residence, and died 
there, February I, 1818. To trans- 
port the body to Troy on a vessel 
without detection, the corpse was sus- 
pended in a hogshead filled with rum. 
It reached its destination, and was 
transferred in one of the rooms of the 
dwelling to a coffin. In 1S31, a third 
story was added to the building, which 
then took the name of the National 
Hotel. While professionally attend- 
ing a session of the Rensselaer County 
Court, Aaron Burr had rooms in the 
hotel for himself and his negro ser- 
vant. A number of years afterward 
a man and a woman, representing 
themselves as married, took rooms 
and board in the house. A week 
afterward they were found dead in 
bed with their throats cut. The un- 
known people explained in a note 
that extreme poverty had caused them 
to commit suicide. In 1864, Charles 
C. Cottrell undertook the manage- 
ment of the hotel, which he called 
the St. Charles. His successor, Gur- 
don Hay, in 1S66, changed the name 
to that of the International Hotel, 
which designation it retained until 
the demolition of the building in the 
spring of 1884. 

The old New York State Armory, 
No. 134 River Street, east side, be- 



tween Congress and Ferry streets, 
was erected in i860. 

Art Store.— 

Edgar L. Everett's art store. 
No. I Keenan Building, on the north 
side of Broadway, between Second 
and Third streets, is well-known for 
its large and attractive collection of 
fine paintings, engravings, etchings, 
statuary, rare china and cut glass- 
ware, unique bronzes and bric-a-brac. 
It has become a much frequented 
place of supply for those purchasing 
artists's materials and those having 
pictures to frame. In 1869, Edgar 
L. Everett, with his father, formed 
the firm of Lorenzo C. Everett & Son, 
dealers in picture frames and artists's 
materials, at No. 2 First Street, on the 
site of the Hall Building. On the 
demolition of the building in 1870, 
the store was removed to No. I2 
Third Street. On the death of his 
father, Edgar L. Everett succeeded to 
the business. In 1872, he occupied 
the store, No. 5 Times Building, in 
which he continued to do business until 
1 88 1, when he moved to his present 
store on Broadway, in the Keenan 
Building, immediately east of the 
Mansion House. 

Associations. — (See Island 
Park Association ; Railroad 
Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion ; Robert Emmet Association ; 
Troy Scientific Association; Troy 
Young Men's Association ; Troy 
Young Men's Catholic Literary 
Association ; Young Wome.n's As- 
sociation.) 

Asylums. — 

St. Vincent's Female Orphan 
Asylum is on the southwest corner 
of Washington and Fifth streets. The 
institution was projected about the 
year 1848, by the Rev. Peter Haver- 
mans of St. Mary's Roman Catholic 



10 



Church, and was first named St. Mary's 
Orphan Asyhim. On the completion 
of the Troy Hospital, a part of it was 
used as an asylum. In 1854, the 
children were removed to the brick 
building erected for an asylum on the 
west side of Hill Street, at its intersec- 
tion with Fifth Street. The loca- 
tion being unsuitable, the brick 
building, No. 185 Third Street, was 
occupied as an asylum about the year 
1859. In 1865, the name of the 
institution was changed to that of 
St. Vincent's Female Orphan Asylum, 
In 1866, the buildings. No. 20 and 22 
Liberty Street, became the property 
of the asylum. On the erection of 
the new Troy Hospital, on the east 
side of Eighth Street, at the head of 
Fulton Street, the old hospital on the 
southwest corner of Fifth and Wash- 
ington streets was vacated. In May, 
1872, it was purchased for the asy- 
lum and occupied in the fall of that 
year. About 180 orphan girls, be- 
tween the ages of three and twelve 
years, are at present inmates of the 
asylum, which is in charge of ten 
Sisters of Charity. 

Troy Catholic Male Orphan 
Asylum, northeast corner of Bedford 
and Hanover streets. The asylum 
was projected by the Rev. Peter 
Havermans, pastor of St. Mary's 
Roman Catholic Church. It was 
first at No. 237 Fourth Street, be- 
tween Washington and Adams streets. 
In 1854, it was removed to a building 
on the east side of Fifth Street, be- 
tween Washington and Adams streets. 
The institution was named St. 
Mary's Male Orphan Asylum. On 
Saturday, May 5, 1866, the building 
was set on fire and burned. The 
orphans were temporarily cared for 
by a number of charitable people 
until another asylum was erected 
on the site of the burned build- 
ing with a part of the material of 



the barracks, on the grounds of the 
Rensselaer County Agricultural So- 
ciety, used by the volunteer soldiers. 
The corner-stone of the present four- 
story, brick building was laid by the 
Right Rev. J. J. Conroy, Bishop of 
Albany, June 24, 1866. The build- 
ing was occupied in 1868. Seventeen 
trustees control the finances of the 
institution, and fourteen Brothers of 
the Christian Schools are intrusted 
with the care and education of the 
orphans, whose ages range from two 
to twelve years. About 350 are at 
present in the asylum. About 200 
day-scholars attend the school con- 
nected with it. The Rev. Brother 
Alexander is the present director of 
the institution. 

Troy Orphan Asylum is on the 
east side of Eighth Street, between 
Hutton and Hoosick streets. A number 
of persons, desiring to ameliorate the 
condition of orphan and destitute 
children in the city, met in the 
mayor's court-room in the court- 
house on October 22. 1833, and or- 
ganized the Troy Association for the 
Relief of Destitute Children. The 
name of the association was changed 
on December 17, 1834, to that of 
The Troy Orphan Asylum. The act 
incorporating the institution was 
passed, April 10, 1835. It gave the 
management of the estate and con- 
cerns of the asylum to a board of 
twenty-one trustees. The first were 
David Buel, jr., Thomas L. Ostrom, 
Gurdon Grant, Griffith P. Griffith, 
Thaddeus B. Bigelow, Ashael Gil- 
bert, jr., William W. Whipple, Amos 
Allen, Richard P. Hart, John 
Thomas, Stephen Warren, P. H. 
Buckley, Elias Lasell, Jacob D. 
Lansing, Gardner Landon, Elias 
Pattison, George Vail, Jacob Merritt, 
John S. McCoun, Day O. Kellogg, 
and John Paine. In 1834, a building, 
then known as No. 52 Third Street, 



11 



was rented for an asylum. In 1836, 
the institution was moved to a two- 
story, brick building, on a plot of 
ground running from Grand Division 
to Federal Street, between Sixth and 
Eighth streets. On May 10, I862, 
the building, No. 65 Grand Division 
Street, was burned in the great fire of 
that day. The asylum was then 
temporarily moved to Lansingburgh; 



In 1884, Apollo Commandery, 
Knights Templars, finished an unfin- 
ished part of the third story for a 
dormitory. In December, 1885, the 
asylum's permanent fund amounted 
to $71,931.61, from which an income 
of $4,157.00 was derived. A large 
sum, however, is annually needed to 
meet the current expenses of the in- 
stitution, which is still partly de- 




TROY ORPHAN ASYLUM. 



no orphans being then in the institu- 
tion. Mrs. Betsey A. Hart having 
given $10,000 and a number of 
citizens a similar amount, and the 
State of New York having appro- 
priated $5,000, the three-story, brick 
building, No. 294 Eighth Street, was 
erected and occupied in 1864. From 
1850 to 1885, legacies and gifts 
amounting to $74,000 were received. 



pendent upon the yearly contributions 
of its friends and payments made by 
the city. The present number of 
orphans in the asylum is about 100. 
The whole number of orphans 
registered since \its organization, 
1,743. The matron is Miss Grace L. 
White. Present officers: Charles W. 
Tillinghast, president; Lewis E. 
Gurley, vice president; William H. 



12 



Hollister, jr., secretary; Aaron Vail, 
treasurer; Otis G. Clark, John S. 
Perry, Harvey J. King, Joseph W. 
Fuller, George H. Starbuck, Dudley 
Tibbits, P. M. Converse, Francis N. 
Mann, jr., Aaron Vail, John Wool 
Grlswold, Charles W. Tillinghast, 
Uri Gilbert, Lewis E. Gurley, 
Charles N. Lockw^ood, William 
Kemp, William Howard Doughty, 
William H. Hollister, jr., Liberty Gil- 
bert, Walter P. Warren, Henry G. 
Ludlow, and George B. Cluett, 
trustees. 

Athenaeum Building, The, 

on the east side of First Street, between 
River and State streets, was erected 
by the Troy Saving Bank in 1845. 
(See City Hall and Troy Young 
Men's Association.) 

Bachelor Club, The, occupies 
rooms on the second floor of Kennedy 
Hall, No. 13 Third Street. 

Ballston Spa, seat of justice of 
Saratoga County, twenty-five miles 
from Troy, on the Rensselaer and Sar- 
atoga Railroad, was incorporated 
March 21, 1807. The Saratoga and 
Schenectady Railroad extends through 
the village. It was fir;>t called Balls- 
town in honor of the Rev. Eliphalet 
Ball, who, in 1769, came from Bed- 
ford, Westchester County, and settled 
about two and a half miles from the 
springs on land sold to pay for the sur- 
vey of the Kayaderosseras patent. In 
1792, the name was changed to Balls- 
ton. The mineral spring at the north 
end of the village was discovered in 
1769. Nicholas Low, in 1803-4, erected 
the Sans Souci hotel. In 1813 Balls- 
ton Spa was described as a "village of 
no houses and stores, an academy, a 
small meeting house, and some very 
large boarding houses. The Sans 
Souci hotel is thought to be one of the 
most elegant and extensive in Amer- 



ica, and has accommodated 170 board- 
ers and lodgers ; but it is designed for 
about 130 only." The waters of the 
different springs at Ballston have for 
many years had a wide reputation for 
their therapeutic mineral properties. 
During the summer season, they attract 
large numbers of visitors to the place, 
which contains some pretty residences 
and several large hotels. Its various 
manufactories give employment to 
many of its inhabitants. The Balls- 
ton yotirnal and the Ballston Defiio- 
crat are published weekly. There 
are two national banks in the place. 
The churches are one Baptist, one 
Episcopal, one Methodist, one Presby- 
terian, and one Roman Catholic. 
Population 3,011. 

Bands. — 

Doring's Military Band. — The 
Watervliet Arsenal Cornet Band was 
organized in 1846, by E. P. Jones. 
In 1 85 1, its members were discharged 
from the service of the United States. 
In the fall of that year the organiza- 
tion took the name of the Troy 
Cornet Band. In May, 1861, its 
members enlisted in the service of 
the United States and was attach- 
ed to the Second Regiment, New 
York Volunteers. After serving 
eighteen months, the members were 
discharged under the general or- 
der discontinuing regimental bands. 
Charles Doring, in 1857, succeeded E. 
P. Jones as leader of the band. It 
was incorporated in 1869 as Doring's 
Military Band. 

Maschke's Cadet Band was or- 
ganized in 1880 by Edwin J. Maschke, 
who since then has been its leader. 

Bankers and Brokers. — 

CiPPERLY, Cole & Haslehurst. 
(See Insurance.) 

Ogden, Calder & Co., bank- 
ers and brokers, at No. 16 First 




Ogden. Calder & Co. 




BANKING HOUSE OF OGDEN, CALDER & CO. 



14 



Street, transact a general banking 
business and issue letters of credit and 
drafts available in all parts of 
America and Europe. The firm buys 
and sells all classes of investment 
securities, and executes orders on 
commission in the stock exchanges 
of Boston, New York and Philadel- 
phia, with all of which the firm has 
connection by private wires, and is 
thus enabled to serve its customers 
with secrecy and dispatch. As early 
as 1824, John D. W. Calder engaged 
in the business at No. 238 River 
Street, two doors north of the Troy 
House. He was succeeded shortly 
afterward by the firm of Calder 
& Co., which continued until 1834. 
In 1856, G. Parish Ogden, the senior 
member of the firm of Ogden. Calder 
& Co., began the business of a banker 
and broker, in Green's Building, on 
the southeast corner of Albany 
(Broadway) and Fourth streets. In 
1863. he and William C. Hart 
formed the firm of G. Parish Ogden 
& Co., doing business at No. 11 
First Street until 1865, when they 
moved their banking house to the 
Farmers' Bank Building, No. 16 
First Street, east side, between River 
and State streets. On the with- 
drawal of William C.Hart, in 1870, 
Ezra R. Vail became associated with 
G. Parish Ogden; the name of G. 
Parish Ogden & Co., being retained 
by the firm. Gouverneur Ogden, the 
son of the senior member of the firm, 
was admitted as a co-partner in 1879. 
On the withdrawal of Ezra R. Vail, 
the firm of Ogden, Calder & Co., was 
formed in 1883 ; the co-partners 
being G. Parish Ogden, J. Frank 
Calder and Gouverneur Ogden. The 
firm as agents represent the Liverpool 
and London and Globe Company, 
the Germania, the Standard, the 
Commercial Union, the British 
America, the Union of San Francisco, 
and other fire insurance companies. 



The firm also effects marine, life, ac- 
cident, and boiler insurance. 

Banks. — 

Since 1801, eighteen banks have 
been established in Troy, eight of 
which discontinued business, and one 
became bankrupt. 

Extinct Banks.— 

Farmers' Bank. The merchants 
of Troy, Lansingburgh, and Water- 
ford, previous to the establishment 
of this bank, transacted their bank- 
ing business in Albany. On March 
31, 1 801, the act to incorporate the 
Farmers' Bank, with a capital not ex- 
ceeding $300,000, was passed. The 
first directors named in the act were : 
John Woodworth, Daniel Merritt, 
Benjamin Tibbits, Christopher Hut- 
ton, Townsend McCoun, and 
Ephraim Morgan, Troy ; Elijah 
Janes, Charles Selden, John D. Dick- 
inson, James Hickok, and Wil- 
liam Bradley, Lansingburgh ; Guert 
Van Schoonhoven, and Samuel 
Stewart, Waterford. The bank build- 
ing was to be located in the town 
of Troy, at a place which Hosea Moffit, 
Jonathan Brown, John E. Van Alen, 
and James McKown, or any three 
of them might select, but near the 
road leading from Troy to Lansing- 
burgh, and not farther north than 
Mill Creek, the (Piscawen Kill), nor 
farther south than the house of Joshua 
Raymond. The building was to be 
erected and so far completed as to 
permit the transaction of the business 
of the bank in it, on December i, 
1801. Respecting the site of the 
bank, the following action was taken 
by the directors at a meeting held at 
Jacobs' tavern, in Lansingburgh, June 
29, 1 801 : 

Resolved, unanimously. That in 
case the lot for the temporary place of 
the establishment of the bank shall 
fall to the village of Troy, that we 



15 



will point out to the commissioners 
the house of Joshua Raymond in the 
village of Troy as the house contem- 
plated in the act, and in case it should 
fall to the village of Lansingburgh, 
we will immediately cause a tempo- 
rary building to be erected on the 
middle ground at or near the place 
contemplated by the commissioners 
for transacting the business until the 
legislature shall have decided on the 
petition of the directors. * * * 

Resolved, unanimously. That we 
will unite in a petition to the legis- 
lature at the next session for obtain- 
ing the alterations in the act of incor- 
poration to enable the directors to 
carry into effect the matters contem- 
plated in the resolutions of the board 
respecting the permanent and tem- 
porary place for the building, and that 
we will unitedly and severally use our 
best exertions in the premises. * * * 

"Resolved, That we will severally 
keep secret the rent of the lot for the 
temporary place of establishing the 
bank and our resolutions this day 
passed respecting the^ame, until the 
further order of the board on the same. 
X * * 

Resolved, unanhnously. That this 
board will immediately proceed to de- 
termine by lot agreeable to the resolu- 
tions of the 6ih day of June, as 
amended, the temporary place for the 
establishment of ttie bank, and that 
Mr. Bradley do prepare and roll up 
for the purpose five ballots with the 
word Lansingburgh written thereon, 
and five ballots with the word 
Troy written thereon; that the same 
be placed and shook together in a hat 
by Mr. Hutton, and drawn by Mr. 
Merritt blindfold in the presence of 
the board, and that the said tempora- 
ry place bhall be at the village, the 
name of which shall be written on two 
of the three first ballots so to be drawn. 
* * * Mr. Merritt drew one after 
another three ballots out of the hat so 



prepared, on opening which it ap- 
peared that the word Lansingburgh 
was written on the two first and the 
word Troy on the third." 

\\\ July, at a meeting at Ashley's 
tavern, in Troy, the directors deter- 
mined to accept two lots in Middlc- 
btirgh, (a collection of houses around 
Mount Olympus), tendered by Jacob 
D. Van der Heyden, and to purchase 
two adjoining lots, and to erect on the 
plot a two-story, brick building, 30 by 
40 feet. In November, the diiectors 
met for the first time in the banking 
house, and resolved that the bank 
should begin business on December i; 
that the banking hours should be 
from 10 A. M. to 2 P. M.; that no note 
less than $200 should be discounted 
for a longer time than fifty-six days ; 
that the rate of discount should be 
six per cent; and that all paper offered 
for discount should be inclosed in 
"sealed covers" addressed to the 
cashier. The vault of the bank was 
a small, arched, brick crypt built in 
the cellar of the building, which is 
still standing on the northwest corner 
of River and Middleburgh streets, 
and which in 1883 was converted 
into a three-story dwelling. (See 
Rensselaer Polytechnmc Insti- 
tute) By the act passed April 6, 
1808, the bank's charter was extended 
to the first Tuesday of March, ,'1821, 
and the directors were permitted to 
remove the institution to 'the com- 
pact part" of Troy. On November 
15, iSoS, the new liank building on 
First Street, on tlie .-^econd lot south of 
the one on the southwest corner of 
First and State streets, was occupied. 
The building was burned in the large 
fire of June 20, 1820. The bank was 
then moved to the building on the 
northeast corner of First and State 
streets, and, in 1830, to the building 
next north of it, now the banking 
house of Ogden, Calder & Co., where 
the institution discontinued business, 



16 



February 27, 1865. (See United 
National Bank). 

Presidents: John D. Dickinson, 
April 9, 1801, to 1828; Townsend 
McCoun, 1828 to 1835 ; Gurdon Corn- 
ing, 1835 to 1842 ; James Van Schoon- 
hoven, 1842 to 1853; John T. Mc- 
Coun, 1S53 to 1861 ; E. Thompson 
Gale, February 7, 1861, to 1865. 

Cashiers : Hugh Peebles, April g, 
1801, to 182- ; James Van Schoon- 
hoven, 182- to 1837; Philander Wells, 
1837 to 1858; Charles P. Hartt, 1S58 
to 1865. 

Bank of Troy. — The act to in- 
corporate the Bank of Troy was 
passed March 22, 1811. The capital 
stock was divided into 20,000 shares, 
each $25, exclusive of the amount 
taken by the State, but its subscrip- 
tion was not to exceed 2,000 shares. 
The institution was to be under the 
management of seventeen directors ; 
three chosen by the governor and 
and council of appointment, (of these 
three, one director was to reside at 
Lansingburgh, another at Troy, and 
the third at Waterford, the other 
fourteen elected by the stockhold- 
ers, (four to reside at Lansing- 
burgh, six at Troy, and four 
at Waterford). The directors were 
permitted to establish branch banks at 
Lansingburgh and Waterford, but at 
these no paper was to be discounted. 
On March 12, 1813, the bank was 
authorized to establish a branch bank 
at Waterford for deposits and dis- 
counting paper. On April 9, 1813, 
another act was passed permitiing the 
five directors who were to reside at 
Lansingburgh, to reside in Rensselaer 
and Saratoga counties. The act of 
February 4, 1814, permitted the five 
directors who were to reside at Water- 
ford to reside in any part of the state. 
By the act of April 22, 1829, the 
the right of the directors to establish 
a branch bank at Waterford was ab- 



rogated. The first directors were : 
Albert Pawling, Benjamin Smith, 
Joseph D. Selden, Ebenezer Jones, 
Esaias Warren, Richard P. Hart, 
Jacob Merritt, Thomas Trenor, Alan- 
son Douglass, Jonathan Burr, John 
Stewart, Roger Skinner, John Cra- 
mer, John T. Close, Moses Scott, 
Richard Davis, jr., and John House 
The business of the bank immedi- 
ately after the occupation of the hank 
building, on the northwest corner of 
First and State streets greatly ex- 
ceeded the expectations of its organ- 
izers and the institution for a number 
of years paid dividends of eight and 
sometimes as high as eight and a half 
per cent. (See United National 
Bank.) 

Presidents: Esaias Warren, 1811 to 
1829 ; Stephen Warren, 1829 to 1847 ; 
Nathan Dauchy, 1847 to 1853 ; Jo- 
seph M. Warren, 1853 to 1S65. 

Cashiers: Alanson Douglass, 1811 
to 1828 : Stephen R. Warren, 182S to 
1831 ; Thaddeus W. Patchin, 1831 to 
1837 ; John Paine, 1837 to 1852 ; 
John P. Nazro, 1852 to 1856 ; Tracy 
Taylor, 1856 to 1865. 

The Merchants and Mechanics' 
Bank was chartered April 29, 1829. 
Its first directors were George Vail, 
Jedediah Tracy, Rufus Richards, Na- 
than Warren, Elias Pattison, John 
P. Cushman, Jonas C. Heartt, Gur- 
don Grant, Jeremiah Chichester, Sam- 
uel Pitcher, Isaac McConihe, Wil- 
liam Smith, and Stephen W Dana. 
At the first meeting of the directors in 
July, 1829, George Vail was elected 
president, and Alanson Douglass cash- 
ier. The bank began business in its 
biiilding. No 16 First Street. On 
February 22, 1865, the bank became 
the Merchants and Mechanics' Na- 
tional Bank of Troy. On Oclober3l, 
1878, the bank was enjoined from 
doing business, its accounts showing 
that the Schaghticoke Woolen Mills, 



17 



at Hart's Falls, N. Y., were indebted 

to the bank, $430,867.98, and that the 
bank's liabilities exceeded the assets, 
$465,664. Capital stock $300,000. 

Presidents: George Vail, 1829 to 
1851 ; D. Thomas Vail, 1851 to 1856 ; 
John Kerr, 1856 to 1857 ; D. Thomas 
Vail, 1857 to 1878 

Cashiers : Alanson Douglass, 1829 
to 1837 ; Charles S. Douglass, 1837 to 
1851 ; Tracy Taylor, 1851 to 1856 ; 
Francis Sims, 1856 to 1878. 

Howard Trust and Banking 
Company established February i, 
1839, with a capital of $100,000. Its 
banking rooms were at No. 10 First 
Street. William Howard, Harrison 
Durkee, and Isaac B. Hart were its 
first directors ; William Howard being 
elected president, and George Q. Pom- 
eroy cashier of the institution. The 
company, having paid all its liabilities 
in full, discontinued business in 1843. 
From 1840 to 1843 its banking rooms 
were at No 205 River Street. 

Commercial Bank of Troy or- 
ganized under the general banking 
law of the state, began business in 
August, 1839, at No. 5^ Second Street, 
north of the Mansion House, with a 
capital of $200,000 The first direc- 
tors were : Benjamin Marshall, Elias 
Plum, John D. Willard, Latham Cor- 
nell, Joseph Russell, Elias Dorlon, S. 
W. Britton, T. Mann, J. G. Bacon, E. 
Caipenter, John W. Bates, Charles H. 
Kellogg, and E. F. Grant. In 1842 
the bank was removed to No. i Frank- 
lin Square, and in the spring of 1846 
to tlie room on the north side of the 
hall of the Athenasum Building, No. 
10 First Street. It continued busi- 
ness uniil 1862, when it clo ed its ac- 
counts, paying nearly 180 per canton 
its stock. 

Presidents: Robert D. Silliman, 
1839 tc 1847 ; Elias Plum, 1847 to 
1862. 



Cashiers: Frederick Leake, 183910 
1853 ; Charles R. Richards, 1S53 to 
1855 ; Frederick Leake, 1855 to 1862. 

Market Bank of Troy, organ- 
ized in January, 1853, with a capital 
of $200,000. Its first directors were 
Jeremiah S. Hakes, Joseph Daggett, 
Elias Johnson, Hiram House, Henry 
R. Hubbell, Harvey Church, Augus- 
tus Lester, Noyes H. W. Reynolds, 
Hiram Miller, David S. McNamara. 
M. J. Bockes, and William J. Baucus. 
The bank began business in Septem- 
ber in the Market Bank Building, No. 
2S0 River Street. In January, 1865, 
the bank was discontinued ; the Na- 
tional Exchange Bank succeeding to 
its business. 

Presidents : Jeremiah S. Hakes, 
1853 to 1858; Hiram Miller, 1858 to 
1865. 

Cashiers : Albert C. Gunnison, 1853 
to 1859; John H. Neher, 1859 to 
1864; Shepard Tappen, 1864 to 1865. 

Troy Savings Company was or- 
ganized June 29, 1854, under the act 
for the incorporation of building, mu- 
tual loan and accumulating fund asso- 
ciations, passed April lO, 1851. 
The first officers were Uri Gil- 
bert, president ; Joseph U. Orvis, 
vice president ; and John P. Al- 
bertson, secretary and treasurer. The 
office of the company was at No. 
18 First Street. $150,000 was the 
largest amount of deposits ever held 
by the company. The accounts of 
the company were closed in 1880. 

First National Bank of Troy 
was organized October 17, 1863, with 
a capital of $200,000. The bank be- 
gan business at No. 218 River Street, 
January i, 1864, and on May I. re- 
moved to No. 15 First Street. On 
January 27, 1864, the capital was in- 
creased to $300,000. The first di- 
rectors were Thomas Coleman, Rich- 
ardson"H. Thurman, Lyman Bennett, 



18 



Otis G. Clark. William L. Van Al- 
styne, Edward R. Swasey, Hugh 
Ranken, Charles Eddy, Charles E. 
Dusenberry, and David B. Cox. The 
bank discontinued business February 
24, 1883, and was succeeded by the 
National Bank of Troy. 

President : Thomas Coleman, Oc- 
tober 24, 1863, to February 24, 1883. 

Cashier : Richardson H. Thur- 
man, October 24, 1863, to February 
24, 1883. 

Tellers : Frederick P. Allen, 1863 
to 1866 ; William G. Crissey, 1866 to 
1873; J- Spencer Garnsey, 1873 to 
1875; George H. Morrison, 1875 to 
1883. 

National Exchange Bank of 
Troy was organized January, 1865, 
with a capital of $100,000. The bank 
succeeded to the business of the Mar- 
ket Bank. (See Market Bank.) 
The first directors were : Hiram 
House, Hiram Miller, A. J. Pine, W. 
J. Baucus, William Gurley, A. B. 
Morgan and Lucius Wright. The 
bank began business in the Market 
Bank Building, No. 280 River Street. 
In 1877 the bank discontinued busi- 
ness, paying all its liabilities. 

Presidents: Hiram Miller, 1865 to 
1877 ; William Gurley, 1877. 

Cashier: Shepard Tappen, 1865 to 
1877. 

Existing Banks. — There are 
nine banks in the city. The Troy 
Savings Bank has deposits aggregating 
about $5,000,000. The capital of the 
eight national banks is $1,890,000. 

Troy Savings Bank is on the 
northeast corner of Second and State 
streets. The act incorporating the 
bank was passed April 23, 1S23. At 
a meeting of the board of managers 
at Piatt Titus' inn, (the Troy House), 
on Friday, August i, that year, 
Townsend McCoun was elected presi- 



dent of the bank. The by-laws pro- 
vided that the bank should be opened 
on every Saturday evening, from 6 to 
8 o'clock ; that deposits of $1 and of 
larger amounts should be received ; 
that no interest should be paid on 
sums less than $5 ; and that no frac- 
tional part of a dollar should be ac- 
cepted. On Saturday evening, August 
30, the bank began business in the 
Farmers' Bank, on the northeast cor- 
ner of First and State streets, receiv- 
ing from the first depositor, Martha 
Jefferson, a colored woman, $20. The 
deposits of that evening amounted to 
$359- The Troy Savings Bank was 
in 1824 removed to the Bank of Troy, 
on the northwest corner of First and 
State streets. In 1832 deposits were 
received at the office of the treasurer, 
Jacob L. Lane, No. 53 First Street. 
In 1836, he removed his office to No. 
8 First Street. In 1845, the bank 
erected the Athenaeum Building, now 
the property of the Troy Young Men's 
Association, on the east side of First 
Street, between River and State 
streets. On its completion in 1846, 
the Savings Bank was removed to the 
banking room of the Commercial 
Bank, which occupied the front room 
on the first floor of the Athtnseum 
Building, on the north side of the 
hall. In 1850, the Troy Savings Bank 
occupied the front room on the south 
side of the hall where it remained 
until its removal on March 25, 1875, 
to the new and attractive granite 
building, on the northeast corner of 
Second and State streets. The build- 
ing cost about $435,000 ; the money 
being a part of the accumulated 
earnings of the bank. (See Music 
Hall.) Amount of deposits on Jan- 
uary I, 1886, $4,965,063.06 

Presidents : Townsend McCoun, 
1823 to 1834; Richard P. Hart, 1834 
to 1839; Stephen Warren, 1S39 to 
1847 ; Gurdon Corning, 1S47 to 1850; 



20 



Jared S. Weed, 1850 to 1870 ; Charles 
B.jRussell, 1870 to present time. 

Secretaries and accountants : John 
Paine, 1823 to 1829; Jacob L. Lane, 
1829 to 1846 ; Frederick Leake, 1846 
101850; Ferdinand J. Suydam. 1850 
to 1851; Adam R, Smith, 1851 ; Joseph 
J. Tiliinghast, 1851 to 1855 ; Charles 
B. Russell. 1855 to 1870; Charles N. 
Lockwood, 1870 to 1875 ; William M. 
Corning, 1875 to present time. 

Treasurer : Charles N. Lockwood 
from 1875 to present time. 

Troy City National Bank, on 
the southeast corner of Fourth and 
Grand Division streets, was organized 
January I, 1865, with a capital of 
$500,000. It succeeded to the busi- 
ness of the Troy City Bank, incor- 
porated April 19, 1833, with a capital 
of .$300,000. On Wednesday, July 
10, 1833, the stockholders at Wash- 
ington Hall, No. 331 River Street, 
elected Richard P. Hart, Robert D. 
Silliman, Alsop Weed, Henry Vail, 
John T. McCoun, George B. Warren, 
Job Pierson, Abraham Van Tuyl, Gil- 
bert Reilay, William P. Haskin, 
Thaddeus B. Bigelow. Anson Arnold, 
and Elnathan F. Grant directors of 
the institution. On July 11, the bank 
began business in a room above Bus- 
kirk & Proudfit's store in the building, 
No. 3 Franklin Square. When the 
brick banking house on the southeast 
corner of Fourth and Grand Division 
streets was finished, the bank was 
moved to it, on September 13. In the 
great fire of Saturday afternoon. May 
10, 1862, it was burned, but most of 
the books and money was removed. 
The contents of the vault were found 
uninjured. On Monday, the bank 
continued its business in the building, 
No. 220 Kiver Street, formerly occu- 
pying a part of the site of the Hall 
Building. On June 13, 1863, the bank 
was moved into its present, attractive, 
iron building on the site of the first 



banking house. On May 10, 1877, 

the capital of the bank was reduced to 
$300,000, by the payment of $200,000 
to the stockholders. 

Present directors: Charles K. Brown, 
William Howard Doughty, Charles 
Cleminshaw, John I. Thompson, 
George A. Stone, Samuel B. Sanford, 
John Don, Henry H. Darling, John A. 
Manning, Charles N. Lockwood, 
David M. Greene, James K. P. Pine, 
and William H. Frear. 

Presidents: Richard P. Hart, 1830 
to 1844; George B. Warren, 1844 to 
1857 ; John A. Griswold, 1857 to 1873 ; 
Hannibal Green, 1873 to 1875; John 
B. Pierson, 1875 to August 12, 1885 ; 
George A. Stone, September 28, 1885, 
to present time. 

Cashiers : George R. Davis, 1833 ; 
Silas K Stow, 1833 to 1863 ; George 
F. Sims, 1863 to 1873; George A. 
Stone, 1873 to September 28, 1885 ; 
Oscar E. Van Zile, September 28, 
1885, to present time. 

Tellers: Harrison Durkee, 1833 to 
1835; William Stimpson, 1836 to 
1S38 ; Charles P. Hartt, 1839 to 1841 ; 
Tracy Taylor, 1841 to 1846; Charles 
P. Hartt, 1847 to 185 1 ; George F. 
Sims, 1851 to 1863 ; O^car E. Van 
Zile, 1863 to September 28, 1885 ; 
Abram N. Belcher, October 14, 1885, 
to present time. 

Union National Bank of Troy, 
No. 12 First Street, succeeded to 
the business of the Union Bank of 
Troy, which was organized under the 
general banking law of the state Jan- 
uary I, 1851, with a capital of $300,- 
000. Its first directors were : Joel 
Mallary, John Kerr. William F. Sage, 
Thomas N. Lockwood, P. T. Heartt, 
Hiram B. Ingalls, L. A. Battershall, 
Jonathan W. Freeman, Lyman Ben- 
nett, Richardson H. Thurman, and 
David B. Cox. The bank began busi- 
ness, Apiil, 1851, in the building, No. 
349 River Street. The bank was 



31 





TROY CITY NATIONAL BANK, CORNER FOURTH AND GRAND DIVISION STS. 



shortly afterward removed to the 
building, No. 12 First Street. On 
March 21, 1865. it became a national 
bank, with a capital of $300,000. 

Present directors: John M. Corliss, 
Thomas W. Lockwood, Lewis E. Gur- 
ley. Liberty Gilbert. C. E. Hanaman, 
George H. Freeman, Adam R. Smith, 
A. C. Fellows, William Gurley, Alfred 
Mosher, Samuel R. Clexton, Ellas 



Kehn, James H. Nichols, Charles F. 
Conkey, and W. John Stevenson. 

Presidents: Joel Mallary, 1851 to 
1857; L A. Battershall, 1857101866; 
William F. Sage, 1866 to 1870 ; Hiram 
Smith, 1870 to 1881 ; William Gur- 
ley, March 15, 1881, to present time. 

Cashiers: Pliny M. Corbin, 1851 to 
1874; Adam R. Smith, December i, 
1874, to present time. 



22 



Tellers : Willard Gay, 185 1 to 1852 ; 
A. Russell, 1853 ; John H. Neher, 
1854 to 1858 ; Adam R. Smith, 1858 
to 1874 ; Henry Wheeler, December 
I, 1874, to present time. 

Manufacturers' National Bank 
OF Troy, on the corner of River and 
King streets, became a national bank 
January 3, 1865, with a capital of 
$150,000. It succeeded to the busi- 
ness of the Manufacturers' Bank of 
Troy, organized in 1852, under the 
general banking law, with a capital of 
$250,000. The first directors were : 
Arba Read, Harvey Smith, Dennis 
M. Fitch, John Mairs, Robert Chris- 
tie, jr., Charles W. Thompson, Titus 
Eddy, John C. Mather, John S. Chris- 
tie, and William Stevenson. The 
bank began business at No. 7 State 
Street, in May, 1852. In 1853, it was 
removed to No. 13 First Street. On 
May I, 1856. the bank fii-st occupied 
the present building. 

Present directors : Henry E. Weed ; 
David Cowee, E. Murphy, jr., Joseph 
Hillman, Samuel O. Gleason, David 
F. Magill, Henry Morrison, George 
P. Ide, Gardner Earl, Charles Mc- 
Carthy, Frank Gilbert, Charles R. 
Stone, and James Fleming. 

Presidents : Arba Read, 1852 to 
1856 ; Roger A. Flood, 1856 to 1864 ; 
Thomas Symonds, 1864 to 1877 ; 
Henry E. Weed, 1877 to 1883 ; 
George P. Ide, 1883 to present time. 

Cashiers: John S. Christie, 1852 to 
101856; Charles P. Hartt, 1856 to 
1858 ; Charles M. Wellington, 1858 
to 1882 ; Samuel O. Gleason, Septem- 
ber 15, 1882, to present time. 

Tellers : W. C. Hart, 1852 to 1856 ; 
Elijahs. House, 1856 to 1863; J. D. 
Bancroft, 1863 to 1864; A. R. Moore, 
1864 to 1882 ; W. H. Bellows, 1882 
to 1883 ; D. H. Humphrey, May, 
1883, to present time. 

National State Bank of Troy, 
on the southeast corner of State and 



First streets, became a national bank 
on April 15, 1865, with a capital of 
$250,000, and succeeded to the busi- 
ness of the State Bank of Troy, or- 
ganized under the general banking 
law of the state, in 1852, with a capi- 
tal of $250,000. The first directors 
were: Ralph J. Starks, John liilch- 
ins, Philip S. Dorlon, David Carr, 
George Dana Wolkyns, D. Voleniine, 
Willard Gay, Alfred B. Nash, James 
Wager, J. G. Bacon, George W. 
Hicks, J. F. Simmons, Lyman R. 
Avery, and Henry Ingram. The bank 
began business in its banking house, 
on the southeast comer of First and 
Stale streets, on September 2, 1852. 

Present directors : Henry Ingram, 
Ralph J. Starks, Philip S. Dorlon, 
Albert E. Bonesteel, Willard Gay, 
Charles Warner, Lyman R. Avery, 
Luther R. Graves, John J. Joslin, 
Ebenezer Warner, Tom S. Wotkyns, 
and Thomas Colwell. 

Presidents : Ralph J. Starks, 1852 ; 
Alfred Wotkyns, 1852 to 1868; Henry 
Ingram, 1868 to 1883 ; Charles War- 
ner, 1883 to present time. 

Cashier: Willard Gay, 1852 to 
present time. 

Tellers : Charles M. Wellington, 
1852101858; E. D. Barton, 185810 
1861; Daniel W. Ford, 1861 to pres- 
ent time. 

Central National Bank of 
Troy, No. 13 First Street, between 
River and State streets, with a capital 
of $300,000, succeeded to the business 
of the Central Bank of Troy on April 
4, 1865, The Central Bank of Troy 
was organized under the general bank- 
ing law of the state, December 29, 
1852, with a capital of $200,000. The 
first directors were : J. Lansing Van 
Schoonhoven, Ralph Hawley, James 
T. Main, Martin I. Townsend, George 
H. Phillips, Lucius M. Cooley, Law- 
rence Van Valkenburgh, Volney Rich- 
mond, Giles B. Kellogg, James 
Buel, Jason J. Gillespie, John Ran- 



23 



ken, Orin Kellogg, William T. Dodge, 
and Orson Brewster. The bank be- 
gan business in the building, No. 271 
River Street, December 29, 1852. 
On May i, 1853, the bank was re- 
moved to No. 5 Second Street. On 
May I, 1865, it was removed to No. 
13 First Street. Present capital, 
$200,000. 

Present directors : Justus Miller, 
Moses Warren, William H. Van 
Schoonhoven, Joseph B. Wilkinson, 
Luman IT. Gibbs, John L. Blanchard, 
John T. Christie, James O'Neil, Al- 
bert B. Gibbs, William J. Howes, 
Joseph Fales, Albert A. Sampson, W. 
Stone Smith, Henry S. Ranken, and 
H. F. Boardman. 

Presidents : J. Lansing Van Schoon- 
hoven, 1852 to 1874; George C. Bur- 
dett, 1874 to 1883; Moses Warren, 
February, 1S83, to present time. 

Cashiers : James Buel, 1852 to 
1857 ; John B Kellogg, 1857 to 1871 ; 
Asa W. Wickes, June 20, 1871, to 
present time. 

Tellers : Asa W. Wickes, 1852 to 
1871 ; Charles H. Adams, 1871 to 
1872; George Kirsop, jr., 1872 to 
present time. 

Mutual National Bank of 
Troy, on the northeast corner of 
First and State streets, became a ra- 
tional bank on March 23, 1865, with 
a capital of $250,000. It succeeded 
to the business of the Mutual Bank of 
Troy, organized under the general 
banking law of the state, November 
24, 1852, with a capital of $200,000. 
Its first directors were : Jonas C. 
Heartt, James Morrison, jr.. Job S. 
Olin, John P. Albertson, Nathaniel 
Potter, jr., John G. Buswell, Elias 
Ross, Henry C. Lockwood, and Jo- 
seph U. Orvis. The bank began bu- 
siness, January 18, 1853, in the build- 
ing on the northeast corner of First 
and State streets. In 1881-82, the 
banking rooms were renovated, the 



bank occupying the vacant rooms in 
the Merchants and Mechanics' Bank 
Building, from November 15, 1880 to 
April 14, 1881. 

The present directors are : William 
Kemp, David Mann, Charles B. 
Bishop, James H. Howe, Francis N. 
Mann, jr., Thomas D. Abrams, Jonas 
S. Heartt, John Worthington, George 
A. Packer, William H. Young, 
Charles A. Brown, George B. Cluett. 
and John K. Howe. 

Presidents : John P. Albertson, 
1852 to 1876; Calvin Hayner, 1876 
to 1878; William Kemp, July 17, 
1878, to present time. 

Cashiers : George A. Stone, 1852 to 
1873 ; George H. Sagendorf, Febru- 
ary 14, 1873, to present time. 

Tellers : B. P. Rogers. 1855 ; D. 
H. Humphrey, 1855 to 1856: E. F. 
Wait, 1856 to 1862 ; George H. Sag- 
endorf, 1862 to 1873 ; Rice C. Bull, 
1873, to present time. 

United National Bank of Trov, 
on the northwest corner of First and 
State streets, was organized March 7, 
1865, with a capital of $300,000. 
The designation, United, was taken 
because the institution was organized 
by stockholders of the Farmers' Bank 
and the Bank of Troy. (See Farm- 
ers' Bank and Bank of Troy.) 
The first directors ( f the bank were: 
E. Thompson Gale, Joseph M. War- 
ren, John L. Thompson, George H. 
Cramer, Uii Gilbert, Alfonzo Bills, 
Azro B. Morgan Norman B. Squires, 
William A. Shepard, Alonzo McCon- 
the. Jolm Hobart Warren, Hanford N. 
Lockwood, and Thomas M. Tibbits. 
On April 13, 1865, the bank began 
business in the rooms previously occu- 
pied by the Bank of Troy, in the 
building on the northwest corner of 
Fiist and State streets, now the 
properly of the United National Bank. 
On March 19, 1877, its capital was 
reduced to $240,000. In 1 884, the 



24 



interior of the bank building was 
renovated, and a number of fire and 
burglar safe deposit and storage 
vaults constructed at the west end of 
the banking-room. 

Present directors : E. Thompson 
Gale, Uri Gilbert, Norman B. Squires, 
Joseph M. Warren, George H. Cra- 
mer, William A. Thompson, George 
T. Lane, John W. Cipperly, Edward 
Tracy, Joseph W. Fuller, James A. 
Burden, C. E. Dudley Tibbits, and 
Charles W. Tillinghast. 

Presidents : E. Thompson Gale, 
1865 to 1885 ; Joseph W. Fuller, Jan- 
uary 13, 1885, to present time. 

Cashiers : Tracy Taylor, 1865 to 
1867; George H. Perry, 1867 10 No- 
vember 13, 1885 ; John H. Neher, 
November 24, 1885, to the present 
time. 

Tellers: George H. Perry, 1865 to 
1867; A. G. H. Calder, 1867 to 1873; 
John H. Neher, 1873 to 1885 ; Ben- 
jamin A. Rousseau, 1885 ; Samuel S. 
Bullions, December 28, 1885, to pres- 
ent time. 

National Bank of Troy, No. 15 
First Street, was organized, with a 
capital of $200,000, under the na- 
tional banking law, on February 24, 
1883, and on that day succeeded to 
the business of the First National 
Bank of Troy, the charter of which 
had then terminated. The first 
and present directors: Thomas Cole- 
man, Lebbeus Burton, Philip H. Ne- 
her, Otis G. Clark, John Duke, Fran- 
cis A. Ostrander, Shepard Tappen, 
Daniel Klock, jr,, Andrew B. Fales, 
Franklin W. Farnam, Francis A. 
Fales, Andrew M. Church, Josiah A. 
Waite, Charles E. Dusenberry, James 
E. Kimball. 

President : Thomas Coleman, 1883 
to present time. 

Vice-president : Francis A. Fales, 
1883 to present time. 

Cashier : George H. Morrison, 1883 
to present time. 



Tellers : Francis W. Mackie, Feb- 
ruary 24, 1883. to September, 1883 : 
Thomas T. Trimble, 1883 to present 
time. 

Baptist Churches — There are 
five Baptist Churches in the city : 

First Baptist Church, east side 
of Third Street, between State and 
Congress streets. On a Sunday after- 
noon, in the year 1793, a number of 
Baptists, among whom were Silas Co- 
vell, Adam Keeling and Anthony 
Goodspeed, assembled with iheir fam- 
ilies in the dwelling-house of Silas 
Covell, then on the northwest corner 
of Liberty and River streets, to en- 
gage in divine worship, conducted by 
Elder Elias Lee, who on that occa- 
sion preached the first sermon heard 
by a Baptist congregation in Troy. 
He had preached in the morning at 
Albany, and after the services there 
came on horseback to Troy After- 
ward meetings on Sundays were held 
in Silas Covell's warehouse on the 
bank of the river, in the rear of the 
building then standing on the south- 
west corner of River and Congress 
streets Later, the organizers of the 
present society worshipped frequently 
in the court-house and elsewhere in 
the village On October 15, 1795, 
" The First Particular Baptist Church 
in the village of Troy " was organ- 
ized. On January 30, 1796, "in con- 
sideration of the sum of five shil- 
lings," Jacob D. Van der Heyden ard 
Mary, his wife, conveyed to the trus- 
tees of the church lot 231, fifty by 
one hundred and thirty feet, on the 
east side of Third Street, (the site of 
the present edifice), " for the purpose 
of a burial ground, and to erect a 
meeting-house for the sole and only 
use " of the society. In the minirtes 
of the Shaftsbury Baptist Association, 
meeting at Shaftsbury Centre, June 5, 
1800, the following entry appears: 
" On motion of Elders [Isaac] Webb 



25 



and [Lemuel] Covell, voted to recom- 
mend it to the churclies to lend some 
assistance to the Baptist church in the 
village of Troy towa ds building a 
hou=e for divine worsliip When we 
consider that their number at present 
is but small, and consists mostly of 
females, — there being not more than 



— together with the importance of 
having the cause of religion built up 
in that place ; we flatter ourselves 
that our churches will come forward 
w)th promptitude, and contribute lib- 
erally for so noble a purpose." In 
1S03 the Rev. Isaac Webb became 
pastor of the society, which, on Jan- 




FIRST PARTICULAR BAPTIST CHURCH, 183O. 



two or three males who can advance 
anything towards such an undertak- 
ing, and at the same time consider 
that there is a favorable prospect of 
their society's increasing, if they had 
a suitable place to meet in, and had 
preaching part of the time, (which 
they might have, if they had a house. 



uary 10, 1804, elected Adam Keeling, 
Edward Tylee, Silas Covell, Ebene- 
zer Jones, and Noble S. Johnson 
trustees of the church. At the June 
meeting rf the Shaftsbury Baptist 
Association at Clifton Park, in 
1604, the Troy society was added to 
the number of churches connected 



26 



with the body. At its next meeting, 
in June, 1805, at Hoosick Falls, the 
membership of the First Particular 
Baptist Church in the village of Troy 
was reported as embracing 75 persons; 
34 having been added to the society 
that year. A small, weather-boarded 
building was shortly thereafter erected 
by the society for a meeting-house. 
On June 4 and 5, 1806, the Shafts- 
bury Association held its twenty- 
sixth annual meeting in the new 
building; sixteen Baptist ministers be- 
ing in attendance. In 1813, the soci- 
ety erected a building for conference 
and other meetings. The Rev. Fran- 
cis Wayland, senior, pastor of the so- 
ciety from 1 8 12 to 18 16, thus wrote. 
May 25, 1816, of a revival conducted 
by him : "Our weekly prayer-meeting 
had hitherto been held in a small 
school-room, and but thinly attended. 
The school-room became crowded 
and insufficient to hold the number 
that attended. It was found neces- 
sary to remove it to the meeting- 
house. * * * On the first Lord's 
day in April, Brother (Archibald) 
Maclay from New York, assisted me 
in baptizing thirty-nine persons ; and 
on the first Lord's day of this month, 
I baptized fifteen more, among them 
an old gentleman aged 74." In the 
first half of this century, the rite of 
baptism by immersion was performed 
in the river, by Baptist ministers, 
either at the foot of Ferry Street, or 
at the foot of Grand Division Street, 
or near the foot of Hoosick Street. 
In June, 1816, the church was dis- 
missed from the Shaftsbury Associa- 
tion to join the Hudson River Baptist 
Association. When the Rev. Charles 
George Somers was ordained pastor of 
the church, on Wednesday, July 10, 
1816, the following mention was made 
in one of the city newspapers of the 
use of the First Presbyterian meeting- 
house for the services : " The Baptist 
meeting-house undergoing some alter- 



ations, the Presbyterians politely 
offered the use of theirs Tor the occa- 
sion, which was accepted." The first 
meeting-house was a two-story, weath-- 
er boarded structure, with a square 
tower and plam steeple. In the tower, 
the city placed, in 1824, a town clock, 
having three dials, one facing west, 
the others north and south. (See 
Clock, Town). The present brick 
edifice, 64 by 100 feet, was erected in 
1846. The spire has a height of 177 
feet from the ground. In 1881-82, 
the interior was renovated, a new bap- 
tistry placed back of the pulpit, the 
portico lowered, the s'x Ionic columns 
were lengthened, and the rooms in. 
the basement enlarged and refurn-i 
ished, at a cost of about $20,000, 1 
The membership of the church has^ 
frequently been decreased by the or- 
ganization of other Baptist societies 
in the city and vicinity. The first 
dismission of members occurred Ma) 
12, 1S27, on the organization of the 
Baptist Church in West Troy. After-i 
ward members were dismissed tC( 
form the Second, the Fifth Street anc' 
the Vail Avenue Baptist churches 
Present membership 677. The Rev 
George C. Baldwin, a graduate O' 
Hamilton Theological Institute, was 
called to the pastorate of the church! 
July 9, 1844. On Sunday, Augus 
25, he began the labors of his ministry 
in Troy. On Sunday, June 7, 1885; 
he tendered his resignation as pastor 
his duties to end in October. The 
congregation, unwilling to have hinu 
terminate his successful and desirabli 
ministry, would not accept his resigna 
tion. His subsequent insistence ti 
be released from his long continuec 
labor of more than forty-one year 
finally induced the society, on Fridaj 
evening, November 6, 1885, to con 
sent to his request. The present pas 
tor of the church, the Rev. L. M. S 
Haynes, D.D., entered on his dutie 
on April I, 1886. 








!i^«^d?l?t^fe^ "^wtl |ill~ — llll~*^ii!lliPl ' 111' \ * 

I"!-™ X iiiiiinwiii iiini i4 iiiii iiM'iiaL III «r 







FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, THIRD SlREhT. 



28 



Pastors : Isaac Webb, 1803 to 181 1 ; 
Francis Wayland, sr., 1812 to 1816; 
Charles G. Somers, 1816 to 1821 ; Le- 
land Howard, 1823 to 1828; Peter 
Ludlow, jr., 1S29 ; Benjamin M. Hill, 
1830 to 1839 ; John Cookson, 1840 to 
1842 ; Lorenzo O. Lovell, 1843 ; 
George C. Baldwin, D D., August 25, 
1844 to November 6, 1885 ; L. M. S. 
Haynes, D.D., April i, 1886, to pies- 
ent time. 

Second Baptist Church, Ida 
Hill, south side of Congress Street, 
opposite Brunswick Avenue. A num- 
ber of Baptists worshipping in a build- 
ing on First Street, between Ferry 
and Division streets, determined on 
February 4, 1834, to organize a second 
Baptist society in the city. On Feb- 
ruary 26, they lesolved to call it the 
Second Particular Baptist Church and 
Society of the city of Troy. On 
March 17, Josiah Converse, Israel 
Seymour, Latham Cornell, Isaac 
Lovejoy, Apollo Harvey, Abel Bun- 
nel, Gardner W. Rand, Lemuel 
Brintnall, and John Wheeler were 
elected trustees of the church. On 
April 4, the meeting-house and lots of 
the First Restorationist Society of 
Troy, on the south side of Ferry 
Street, and on the east side of the 
alley, between Second and First 
streets, became the properly of the 
Second Particular Baptist Church. 
The society, on June 8, called the Rev. 
Ebenezer S. Raymond to become its 
pastor. After his resignation, in 1841, 
the society lost its membership, and 
about 1852 ceased to exist as an or- 
ganization. 

In September, 1866, the Mt. Ida 
Baptist Mission Sunday School was 
organized and occupied a brick build- 
ing on the south side of Congress 
Street, standing on the present site of 
St. Francis' Roman Catholic Church. 
The school was conducted by the 
members of the First Baptist and the 



Fifth Street Baptist churches; Cyrus 
Carter being superintendent. A meet- 
ing was held in the Sunday-school 
room, on Wednesday, February 12, 
1868, to revive the organization of the 
Second Baptist Society of Troy, at 
which meeting sixty-six persons signi- 
fied their intentioa to become mem- 
bers of it. Reuben Cole, John Price, 
Frederick A. Sheldon, George Harri- 
son, William H. Prentice, James P. 
Collins, James P. Gates, Edwaid A. 
Billings, and Lewis E. Gurley were 
then elected trustees of the society. 
The act to enable the Second Partic- 
ular Baptist Church and Society of 
the city of Troy 10 repossess its 
property was passed by the legislature, 
April 18, 1868. The site of the 
church \\a.> purchased from the Mar- 
shall estate, and in November that 
year the contracts for the erection o( 
the present brick edifice were made. 
On May 25, 1S69, the corner-stone 
was laid, and on the second Sunday 
in Match, 1870, the church was dedi- 
cated, In 1875 the society became a 
self-sustaining body. Present mem- 
bership 248. 

Pastors : Ebenezer S. Raymond, 
July, 1834 to 1841 ; W. T. C. Hanna, 
April, 1870, to January 31, 1880 ; L. 
S. Johnson, May i, 1880, to June i, 

1882 ; Charles F. Hopkins, 1882 to 

1883 ; H. B. Steelman, September i, 
1883, to present time. 

Fifth Street Baptist Church, 
southeast corner of Fifth and Fulton 
streets. On May 8, 1843, fifty-seven 
members of the First Baptist Church 
were granted letters of dismission to 
form a second Baptist society in the 
city. They and a number of other 
persons, on June 6, ort;anized them- 
selves into the body called the North 
Baptist Church. Its members, on the 
same day, called the Rev. Leland 
Howard to the pastorate of the so- 
ciety, who shortly thereafter entered 




UK 111 :,rkKKl bAPTIST CHURCH, COK. FIFTH AND FULTON SI REETS. 



30 



upon the discharge of the duties of 
that office. The society was recog- 
nized as a church, on June 15, by a 
Baptist council. The members began 
worshipping in the Presbyterian session 
house, No. 71 Fourth Street, formerly 
occupying the site of the Grand Cen- 
tral Theatre. On August 24, three 
adjacent lots, 779, 780, and 781, at 
the southeast corner of Elbow (Ful- 
ton) and Fifth streets were purchased 
for $3,000 from Ethelinda Selden, on 
which the erection of the first church 
was begun. On the afternoon of Sep- 
tember II, the corner-stone was laid. 
The edifice was dedicated May 23, 
1844. It was built of brick at an ex- 
pense of $15,000. On October 28, 

1852, it was destroyed by fire with a 
number of other buildings in its vicin- 
ity. The church was rebuilt at a cost 
of $10,000, and dedicated June 26, 

1853. On May 10, 1862, the second 
edifice, the parsonage, and the homes 
of about forty families connected with 
the society were burned in the great 
conflagration of that day. The pres- 
ent attractive brick church was then 
erected. Services were held in the 
lecture-room for the first time, in De- 
cember, that year. On May 14, 1863, 
the church was dedicated ; the Rev. E. 
L. Magoon, D.D., of Albany, preach- 
ing the dedicatory sermon. The 
building is 97 feet long and 67 wide ; 
the main tower 113 feet high. In the 
auditorium are about 130 pews. The 
pulpit and baptistiy are in a recess at 
the east end of the auditorium, ihe 
choir and organ in one at the west 
end. In the basement are the lecture 
and Sunday-school rooms. The bell 
in the tower weighs 2,500 pounds, 
The church was refitted in 1878, at an 
expense of about $3,000. Present 
number of members, 619. The South 
Troy Baptist Church is a branch of 
the Fifth Street Church. (See South 
Troy Baptist Church). 

The present officers of the church 



are : Lewis E. Gurley, Otis G. Clark, 
and William Gurley, deacons ; Otis 
G. Clark, Hiram Miller. M F. Cum- 
mings, P. H. Neher, William Gur- 
ley, Justus Miller, W. J. Ranken, S. 
D. Sweet, and E. C. Lyman, trustees. 
Lewis E Gurley has been superin- 
tendent of the Sunday-school since 

1854. 

Pastors : Leland Howard, June, 
1S43, to May I, 1846 ; J. H. Walden, 
1846 to October 15, 1848 ; J. G. War- 
ren, D.D., February, 1849, to July, 
1855 -.C. P Sheldon. D.D., Septem- 
ber I, 1S56, to October, 1875 ; L. J. 
Matteson, January, 1876, to 1877 ; J. 
H. Griffith, April. 1878, to October. 
1883; H. C. Hiscox, May i, 1885, to 
present time. 

Vail Avenue Baptist Church, 
on the southeast corner of Vail and 
Cemetery avenues. In January, 1868, 
Mrs. Susan N. McLane and William 
D. McLane organized a Sunday- 
school, which became the Vail Ave- 
nue Mission of the First Baptist 
Church of Troy. In i86g, a chapel 
was erected on the east side of Vail 
Avenue, a little south of the site of 
the present edifice and dedicated St p- 
tember 26 ; the Rev. George C Bald- 
win preaching the dedicatory sermon. 
The Rev. Ezra D. Simons was placed 
in charge of the mi-sion. About 
eighty members having received let- 
ters of dismission from the First Bap- 
tist Church, organized on April 23, 
1871, the scciety, which then look the 
name of the Vail Avenue Baptist 
Church. On April 27, the society 
was constituted a church by a Baptist 
council. In 1873, the chapel was en- 
larged In 1883, the building was 
moved to its present location. Pres- 
ent membership, 172. 

Pastors : Ezra D. Simons, April 23, 
1871, to May I, 1876; John Mostyn, 
July, 1876, to 1877 ; Thomas Bick- 
ford, August, 1878, to 1879; J. W. 




SOUTH TROY BAPTIST CHURCH. 



32 



Martin, 1880, to 1882; George E. 
Weeks, April 14, 1883, to present 
time. 

South Troy Baptist Church, on 
the east side of First Street, between 
Polk and Main streets. James L. 
Phillips, a member of the -Fifth Street 
Baptist Church, organized at his 
house. No. 540 Second Street, in Oc- 
tober, 1867, a Sunday-school, which, 
shortly afterward, held its sessions in 
the office-building of H. Burden & 
Sons' Steam Mills, where, also, reli- 
gious services were attended by those 
interested in the Sunday-school. On 
June 14, 1869, a two-story frame 
building, known as No. 552 First 
Street, and the lot on which the struc- 
ture stood, were purchased for $4,000. 
The lower rooms of 'he house were 
renovated and furnished for the use 
of the Sunday-school and for religious 
services, at an expense of about 
$1,000, contributed by the members 
of the Fifth Street Baptist Church. 
On October 24, 1869, the South Troy 
Baptist Church was organized as a 
branch of the Fifth Street Baptist 
Church, from a number of persons 
connected with it. A call was given 
the Rev. Richard Davies, of Wales, 
who was installed pastor of the society, 
on February i, 1870. A large num- 
ber of persons having become mem- 
bers of the church during the winter 
of 1884-85, the society and its friends 
belonging to the parent church under- 
took the erection of the present 
chapel, an attractive wooden structure, 
47 by 78 feet, built on the site of the 
former building The auditorium, 
29 by 48 feet, has about 200 sittings. 
An infant Sunday-school room, and 
five Sunday-school class rooms, open 
into it. A library room is convenient 
to them. Beneath the tower is the 
pastor's study. In the basement are 
the heaters, and two dressing rooms, 
which communicate by stairways with 
the baptistry, back of the pulpit-plat- 



form. An audience of about 500 per- 
sons can be seated in the building. 
Cost of building and furniture, about 
$10,000. M. F. Cummings, architect. 
The church was dedicated on Sunday 
afternoon, January 17, 1886. On the 
removal of the old chapel to the rear 
of the new one', the former was fitted 
for a dwelling house. Present num- 
ber of members, 86. 

Pastors : Richard Davies, February 
I, 1870, to March, 1871 ; J. N. Smith, 
1871 to January i, 1875 ; E. D. Phil- 
lips, 1881 to 1883. Since 1883 the 
service has been conducted by lay- 
men. 

Bath-on-the-Hudson, the first 
station on the Troy and Greenbush 
Railroad, three miles south of the city. 
It derived its name from several min- 
eral springs, discovered about the 
close of the last century, near the vil- 
lage. John Maude, an English trav- 
eller, in June, 1800, visited the place; 
which he described as " a town Jateiy 
laid out by the patroon," and having 
" about thirty houses," " The medici- 
nal springs and baths, at one time so 
much vaunted, are now shut up and 
neglected ; yet, as a watering place, it 
was to have rivaled Ballstown, and, as 
a trading place, Lansingburgh and 
Troy." The manor-house, north of 
the village, was built about the year 
1839, by William P. Van Rensselaer. 
The village was incorporated May 5, 
1874 

Beef.— 

Gaffey & Zeiser, wholesale deal- 
ers in western dressed beef and pork, 
at Nos. 27 and 28 River Street, west 
side, between Washington and Adams 
streets, command a great part of the 
territory of Northern New York, Ver- 
mont and Western Massachusetts for 
the distribution of large quantities of 
dressed beef, daily received by them 
from Chicago. The firm was formed 



33 



by David GaflFey and Dagobert Zeiser, 
on December i, 1882. On February 
I, 1883, they occupied the two-story, 
wooden building, erected by them for 
an office and refrigerator, near the 
freight-delivery yards of the New 
York Central and the Troy & Boston 
railroads. Gaffey & Zeizer at once 
bravely entered into competition with 
the agents of Swift & Co., then exclu- 
sively supplying dealers in Troy and 
vicinity with western dressed beef, 
and after a persistent struggle during 
the year 1883, the firm became strong- 
ly established in public favor, and 
acquired, by its perseverance and en- 
terprise, the large business in the 
wide-extended territory mentioned. 
Gaffey & Zeiser obtain their dressed 
beef from Aimour & Co., Chicago, 
which the Troy firm sells to dealers 
only. 

Beeren Island, or Bears' Island, 
in the Hudson, is eighteen miles south 
of the city. It was called Beeren 
F.ylandt by the Dutch, about the year 
1625. i>f^r. bear ; beereii,\iQ2^x%. In 
1643, the patroon of Rensselaerswyck 
ibuilt on it a small fort, called Rens- 
selaers Steyti, Rensselaer's Castle. 
An unsuccessful attempt to cultivate 
ithe indigo-plant on this island was 
Imade in the same century. It was a 
(common resort of the Indians during 
jthe fishing season. 

I B. G. Club, organized in 1848, 
occupies rooms at No. 7^ State Street. 

Bells. — The fame of having tens 
of thousands of church bells ringing 
round the earth made in her foundries 
is realized by Troy. In the distant 
missionary fields in Africa, along the 
fertile borders of the Nile, beyond 
the ruins of Ninevah, near the jun- 
gles of India, around the pagodas of 
China, over the heathen-inhabited 
islands of the Pacific, in every part of 



the wide extent of the United States, 
the sound-waves of Troy bells billow 
and break. 

In 18S0, Julius Hanks, of Litch- 
field, Conn., moved to Gibbonsville, 
(now West Troy), and erected, on the 
plat of ground now partly occupied 
by the building, No. 237 Broadway, 
a foundry, where he made church 
bells, mathematical, and sur\'eying in- 
struments, and cannon. In the fall of 
1825, he removed to Troy, having 
purchased, June 25, that year, of Jacob 
D. E. Van der Heyden, lot 795, on 
the northeast corner of Fifth and 
Elbow (Fulton) streets. On it he 
erected a two-story, weather-boarded 
building, residing in the part fronting 
on Fifth Street, and using the other, 
on Elbow Street, for his business. On 
the corner of the alley, eastward, he 
built a small foundry. (See engrav- 
ing of building under Engineers 
AND Surveyors' Instruments). As 
advertised, here he was " prepared to 
execute any orders in his line of bu- 
siness, viz. : church-bells, with im- 
proved cast-iron yokes, also town 
clocks, copper and brass castings, sur- 
veyors' instruments of the most im- 
proved construction." In the spring 
of 1830, Alpheus and Truman Hanks, 
of Hartford, Conn., advertised that 
they had purchased the property of 
their brother, Julius, and that they 
were "prepared to furnish church 
bells from 100 to 3,000 pounds." 
Sometime afterward, Oscar, the son of 
Julius Hanks, succeeded to the busi- 
ness, in which he continued until 
about 1848. In 1852, Eber Jones and 
James H. Hitchcock, forming the firm 
of [ones & Hitchcock, began manu- 
facturing church bells, in the Peck 
Building, on the northwest corner of 
First and Adams streets. In 1873, 
the Jones & Co. Troy Bell Foundry 
succeeded to the business, which, 
>ince 1854, has been conducted in the 
brick building, on the southwest cor- 
ner of Adams and First streets. 



34 



Clinton H. Meneely Bell Com- 
pany, office and foundry, Nos. 22, 24 
and 26 River Street, east side, be- 
tween Washington and Adams streets. 
In 1869, Clinton H. Meneely and 
George H. Kimberly formed the part- 
nership of Meneely & Kimberly, erect- 
ing their foundry on the site now oc- 
cupied by that of the Meneely Bell 
Company. In 1879, the partnership 
was dissolved. On January i, 1880, 
the Clinton H. Meneely Bell Com- 
pany, a stock company, was organized. 
The company's constant reception of 
orders from different parts of the 
world for church-bells is an honoring 
attestation of their excellence. Their 
shape, weight and tone are based upon 
the combination of so many essen- 
tials that the business is one which 
obtains its distinction from the adap- 
tation of bells to the places and pur- 
poses for which they are intended. 
The company's foundry is fitted with 
all the necessary appliances for mould- 
ing and casting bells of different 
weight and size. The quality of a 
bell's sound or sonorousness depends 
on its shape as well as on the metal 
used in casting it. Copper and tin are 
the best materials for making clear- 
toned bells. The most approved pro- 
portions are 78 parts of copper and 22 
of tin. Not unfrequently the com- 
pany receives jewelry to be melted to 
form a part of the composition of gifc- 
bells. A chime of bells is a set of 
bells, the tones of which, beginning 
with the largest, known as the tenor- 
bell, follow one another in diatonic 
succession. Eight bells, representing 
the notes of the natural scale, make 
a natural chime, The addition of 
another bell, of a flat, seventh lone, 
gives a new series of diatonic tones, 
five in number, in the key of the 
fourth, thereby admitting the chiming 
of the bells in two keys. The ninth 
bell generally supplements the octave, 
so that a full chime includes nine 



bells. The addition of a bell of a 
sharp fourth tone produces a new 
series of six in the key of the second, 
but as the bell is made very heavy, it 
is seldom ordered. Tunes on chimes 
are played somewhat after the man- 
ner of a piano-forte, the keys being 
wooden handles, set on a frame and 
connected by trackers (wooden rods) 
with the bells. The company have 
recently sent chimes to churches in 
Boston, Worcester, Salem, Mass , Da- 
rien, Conn., Albany, Geneva, Chau- 
tauqua, Marnaroneck, N. Y , Mont- 
gomery, Ala., Gambier, Ohio, Chica- 
go, 111., St. Louis, Mo., and other 
cities. Two bells were sent to the 
west coast of Africa, twelve to mis- 
sionary schools in the interior of that 
country, four to Constantinople, three 
to Shang-Hai, China, and several to 
England, Bulgaria, Persia and India. 
Many of the bells sent to foreign 
lands bear inscriptions in the lan- 
guage of their inhabitants. 

Berlin, one of the seventeen 
towns of Rensselaer County, was 
erected by act of legislature, passed 
March 21, 1806. The town is near 
the center of the eastern boundary of 
the county. Population, 1810, 3,012 
1815,1,955; 1820, 1,986; 1825,1,989 
1830,2,019; 1835, 1,757; 1840, 1,794 
1845,1,845; 1850,2,005; 1855,2,167 
1860,2,223; 1865,2,149; 1870,2,088 
1875, 2,252; 1880, 2,202. 

In the town is the village of Ber- 
lin, in which are three churches, two 
taverns, and about one hundred and 
fifty dwellings, stores, and shops. The 
hamlet of Berlin Center comprises a 
church, a store, a tavern, and about 
twenty other buildings. South Ber- 
lin IS a collection of about twenty-five 
buildings, among which is a church, a 
factory, and a saw-mill. 

Bessemer Iron Works. (See 
Troy Steel and Iron Company.) 



35 



Bible Society of Rensselaer 

County was organized in the court- 
house. July II, 1815. Depositary, 
William H. Young, bookseller, Nos. 
8 and 9 First Street. 

Boat Clubs. (See Cohoes Row- 
ing Club ; Laureate Boat Club ; 
Neptune Boat Club ; Sans Souci 
Yacht Club ; William S. Earl 
Boat Club.) 

Boilers, Steam.— 

Thomas S. Sutherland, at the 
Franklin Iron Works, on Center 
Island, between Troy and Green 
Island, tnanufactures steam boilers for 
steamboats, factories, mills, and fur- 
naces. Twenty years experience in 
the business has highly qualified him 
to merit the large patronage acquired 
by him. Employing only skilled 
workmen, he is enabled to make boil- 
ers which commend his work in all 
points for its excellence and perfec- 
tion. He also manufactures water 
and steam tanks, gasometers, oil stills, 
filters, paper bleachers, and smoke 
stacks. For welding heavy shafting 
and forging ponderous parts of ma- 
chinery, he possesses facilities which 
give him no little distinction in this 
line of work. On June 11, 1866, he 
began manufacturing steam boilers in 
a building on the north side of North 
Street, between River and Mount 
streets. In 1867, he moved to the 
building No. 481 River Street, corner 
of Hutlon Street. In 1878, his son, 
Charles H., became associated with 
him in the business, under the firm 
name of Thos. S. Sutherland & Son. 
On the burning of the establishment, 
on December 7, 1879, ^he firm occu- 
pied, for a short time, a part of the 
Starbuck Building, on Center Island, 
whence the firm moved to the new 
building, erected in 1880, on the 
northwest corner of River and Hut- 



ton streets. In 1883, the firm occu- 
pied the Hannibal Green Spring 
Works, on Smith Avenue. After the 
dissolution of the firm, Thomas S. 
Sutherland, in May, 1885, moved to 
the present buildings occupied by 
him, on the south side of Center 
Island. His post-office address is 
Troy, N. Y. 

Bookstores, — 

H. B. NiMS & Co., booksellers and 
stationers, Nos. 9 and 10 Cannon 
Place, and No. il Second Street, are 
successors to the business established 
in 1842 by William and Homer Mer- 
riam at No. 9 Cannon Place, 
southwest comer of Broadway and 
Second Street. In 1847, Ransom B. 
Moore became a partner, and the firm 
of W. & H. Merriam was changed to 
that of Merriam, Moore, & Co., and 
the place of business to No. 5 Board- 
man Building, on the northeast cor- 
ner of River and Fulton streets. On 
May I, 1849, they again occupied 
their former store-room, at Cannon 
Place. On the dissolution of the part- 
nership, on January 15, 1851, Homer 
Merriam and Ransom B. Moore 
formed the firm of Merriam & Moore. 
Henry B. Nims, who had been a 
clerk in the establishment from Octo- 
ber, 1849, w^s admitted as a partner 
on Februaryi2, 1852; the firm taking 
the name of Merriam, Moore & Co. 
By the withdrawal of Homer Mer- 
riam to enter into partnership with G. 
& C. Merriam, the publishers of Web- 
ster's dictionaries, the firm of Moore 
& Nims was formed in 1858. On its 
dissolution, H. B. Nims & Co., on 
February i, 1859, succeeded it ; H. 
B. Nims with Henry F. Smith and 
Joseph Knight, for a number of years 
clerks in the store, forming the part- 
nership, which still exists. 

The salerooms, retail and whole- 
sale, of Nims & Co., are admirably 
arranged to display their large stock 



36 



of standard and miscellaneous works, 
finely illustrated gift books, educa- 
tional text-books, common and choice 
stationery! illuminated cards, in and 
out-door games, and other attractive 
and salable specialties usually found 
in first-class book and stationery 
stores. As publishers of a number 
of entertaining books for children, 
and also of several series of popular 
school books, Nims & Co. have greatly 
enlarged their wholesale business, 
which now extends westward as far as 
Colorado, and from Minnesota south- 
ward to Texas. Since 1852, the sev- 
eral firms conducting the business 
have manufactured terrestrial and ce- 
lestial globes. The Franklin, of 
varying diameters, from 6 to 30 
inches, made by Nims & Co., besides 
accurately illustrating the latest dis- 
covered configurations of the earth, 
and pictorially exhibiting the stellar 
firmament, are attractively mounted 
and durably framed. The firm also 
has different styles of book and music 
racks, dictionary holders, book-shelves 
and cases. 

William H. Young, Bookseller 
AND Stationer, Nos. 8 and 9 First 
Street and 214 River Street, has, asso- 
ciatively and singly, been engaged in 
the business since 1842. It was be- 
gun by his first predecessor, Ebenezer 
Piatt, in the spring of 1821, in a 
building on the west side of River 
Street, opposite Titus's Tavern, now 
the Troy House. In the fall of that 
year, Ebenezer Piatt and Daniel W. 
Piatt formed the partnership of E. & D. 
W. Piatt, booksellers and stationers. 
In 1822, their place of business was 
named the " Franklin Bookstore ;" 
a bust of the distinguished American, 
Benjamin Franklin, being over the 
doorway. On April 29, 1823, they re- 
moved to Philip Heartt's three-story, 
brick building, on the east side of 
River Street, nearly opposite Gale & 



Thompson's drug store. In May, 
1825, Ebenezer Piatt and John Rous- 
seau formed the firm of E. Piatt & 
Co., and continued the business at the 
same place. No. 172 River Street. 
On March 10, 1828, Zephaniah Clark 
and James L. Hosford entered into 
partnership, under the name of Clark ^ 
& Hosford, and purchased the stock 
of E. Piatt & Co. In March, 1832, 
Z. Clark and Joseph Hosford, as 
Z. Clark & Co. succeeded Clark & 
Hosford. On May i, that year, the 
firm removed from No 172 River 
Street to No. 216 River Street. On 
September 10, 1832, Zephaniah Clark 
succeeded to the business, in which 
he continued until March i, 1842, 
when William H. Young and Charles 
P. Hartt formed the partnership of • 
Young & Hartt, and purchased his 
stock of books and stationery. In 1 
1851, Charles P. Hartt withdrew, and '■ 
William H. Young conducted the bus- 
iness until 1861, when he formed a 1 
partnership with Benjamin D. Ben- • 
son, under the name of Young & ' 
Benson. In 1866, the junior partner 
withdrew. In March, 1869, William > 
H. Young and Frederick Blake be- 
came partners, under the name ofl 
Young & Blake. In March, 1875, , 
the partnership was dissolved, from 1 
which time, William H. Young has ■ 
continued the business. In 1864, he ■ 
erected the brown-stone-front build- 
ing, Nos. 8 and 9 First Street, which 1 
he occupied that year, and connected 1 
it with his store-room. No. 216 River r 
Street. In 1871, he erected the three- 
story, brick building. No. 214 Riven 
Street, to which he removed that part ; 
of his stock contained in the store- - 
room. No. 216 River Street. In the: 
new building, on River Street, he also 1 
established a book-bindery and a 1 
printing office. In 1876, he published 
the History of the City of Troy, writ- 
ten by A. J. Weise, an octavo volumcf 
of 400 pages. His spacious store-- 




WILLIAM H. young's BOOKSTORE, FIRST STREET. 



38 



rooms contain a large collection of 
American and foreign publications, 
Bibles and prayer-books, text-books 
for colleges and schools, cheap and 
choice stationery, a full line of gold 
pens and pencils, and the latest sptcial- 
ties in fancy goods. He also manufac- 
tures blank books of all styles, from 
great bank ledgers to pocket memo- 
randum books. 



Boots and Shoes. — 

Wood & Merrill, wholesale deal- 
ers in boots, shoes and rubbers. No. 
229 River Street. The firm, besides 
having the distinction of being the 
only one in the city engaged in the 
general jobbing business in these 
goods, is well known for its enter- 
prise in selling them to a large num- 
ber of its customers in Northern and 
Central New York and Vermont. The 
different classes of boots, shoes and 
rubbers, contained in the firm's four- 
story, brick building, opposite the 
Troy House, indubitably indicate the 
peculiar local demands of the trade in 
the territory mentioned. On the es- 
tablishment of the house, the first 
firm manufactured most of the goods 
sold by it, but in later years. Wood & 
Merrill have discontinued manufac- 
turing, and wholly devoted their at- 
tention to the enlargement of their 
extensive wholesale business. The 
senior member of the firm, Jacob C. 
Wood, engaged in the business of 
manufacturing boots and shoes, in 
Troy, in 1841. Ten years later, he 
and Elisha Talmadge formed the part- 
nership of Talmadge, & Wood, boot 
and shoe manufacturers, doing busi- 
ness at No. i8g River Street. On the 
admission of Theodore A. Wilson, in 
1853, the firm took the name of Tal- 
madge, Wood & Wilson. On his 
withdrawal, in the following year, the 
name again became Talmadge & 
Wood. In 1856, J. R. Prentice was 



admitted, the name being changed to 
Talmadge, Wood, & Co. The next 
year, the firm occupied the building, 
No. 165 River Street. In 1859, the 
firm of Wood, Willard, & Prentice 
succeeded to the business ; Clarence 
Willard being a partner. In 1864, 
the firm removed to the building, 
Nos. 231 and 233 River Street. On 
January I, 1870, the junior member 
of the present firm, John V. D. S. 
Merrill, became a partner ; the firm 
taking the name of Wood, Prentice & 
Co. In 1S72, the firm moved to the 
present building. The firm of Wood 
& Merrill was formed February i, 
1877. 

Chauncey D. Packard & Son, 
on the northwest corner of Congress 
and Third streets, Rand's Opera 
House Building, continue to supply a 
large line of customers with all kinds 
of boots, shoes, slippers, rubbers, pol- 
ishes and blackings, worn and used 
by men, women and children. The 
senior member of the firm has been 
in the business more than a half-cen- 
tury, having, in July, 1843, at No. 83 
Congress Street, succeeded to the bus- 
iness, which his grandfather, Timothy 
Packard, and his father, Davis Pack- 
ard, under the firm name of T. & U. 
Packard, established about the year 
1828, at No. 57 Congress Street. In 
1858, he and his father became part- 
ners, in the firm of Davis Packard & ' 
Co., doing business at No. 83 Con- 
gress Street. In 1863, the firm of 
Chauncey D. Packard & Co., (War- 
ren P. Packard), succeeded to the ' 
business. From 1869 to 1871, Chaun- 
cey D. Packard conducted it, who, in 1 
1871, was succeeded by the firm of 1 
Chauncey D. Packard & Co.; his sons, 
Eugene C. and Angelo S., being co- 
partners with their father in the busi- 
ness. In 1872, Augustus Packard 
also became a member of the firm. 
In the following year, Chauncey D. 



39 



Packard succeeded the firm, and 

moved the store to No. 6g Congress 
Street, where he coniiniied to conduct 
the business until 1883, when he and 
his son, Augustus, formtd ihe present 
firm. A half-century ago, machine 
made boots and shoes had not yet 
been manufactured, and home-made 
ones, restricted to three kinds of 
women's shoes, calf-skin, morocco, 
and slippers, and to two kinds of men's 
l)oots, coarse and fine, and to men's 
brogans, a plainly made shoe, were 
mainly the stock of a large boot and 
shoe store. Children's boots ^ and 
shoes had the same classification. 
Gum shoes, dull, red-colored, and un- 
shapely, were purchased by dealers in 
cases, containing from fifty to seventy- 
five pairs They were very elastic, 
and were filled with cut straw, earth, 
or rice-hulls, to protect them from ad- 
hesion by heat. The dealers freed 
them from the dirt in and outside, 
and varnished, and fitted them to 
the feet of those who bought 
them. Boys highly prized these gum 
shoes, and cut them into strips and 
wound them into balls, which, when 
thrown against any hard surface, re- 
bounded to no little distance. 

Box Makers. (See Paper Box 
Manufacturers.) 

Brass Founding. — 

William Kemp has for more than 
a third of a century been the propri- 
etor of the Troy Brass Foundry, on 
the west side of North Third S reel, 
between Federal and Jacob streets 
Ezra S. Howard, who early in the 
present century had a co;.per and 
tin-smithery on the southeast corner 
of the alley on Ferry Street, between 
Second and Third streets, established 
about the year 1825, the Troy Bell 
Foundry, on the site of the Troy Brass 
foundry, Nos. 27 and 29 North Third 



Street. When he erected his estab- 
lishment there, that part of the city 
was not occupied by many buildings, 
and North Third Street was still 
grass grown and ungraded. In the 
fall of 1851, William Kemp & Co. 
rented the property, and engaged in 
the manufacture of brass-work. In 
the following year, William Kemp 
succeeded to the business, which, by 
his individual enterprise and industry, 
has obtained no little importance 
among the principal industries of 
Troy. The property, purchased by 
William Kemp, in 1856, has a front- 
age of seventy-five feet on North 
Third Street, and a depth of one hun- 
dred and thirty feet west of it. The 
productions of the works embrace 
those generally made in a brass 
foundry. James Kemp, a son of Wil- 
liam Kemp, has had for more than a 
decade of years the management of 
the business. 

Breweries — There are ten brew- 
eries in the city, six of which brew 
ale and porter, and the other four 
lager beer. During the year 18S5, 
142,282 barrels of ale and porter, and 
23,750 batrels of lager beer were 
made. In 1830, the three breweries 
in the city brewed 14,000 barrels of 
beer. In 1875, the nine breweries in 
Troy made 115,713 barrels of ale, 
porter, and lager beer. 

Fitzgerald Brothers, maltsters 
and brewers, are proprietors of the 
Garryowen Brewery, fronting 225 feet 
on River Street, west side, between 
Hutton and Hoosick streets. The 
malt-house and the brewery are two 
spacious brick buildings, six stories 
high, extending to the Hudson, on the 
west, the distance of 120 feet. On 
the bank of the river, a wing, 40 by 
60 feet, also built of brick, adjoins 
the brewery on the north. North of 
the brewery, on River Street, is the 



40 



office-building, a two-story, brick 
structure, near which are several 
other brick buildings belonging to the 
large establishment, which covers nine 
building plats, from 495 to 511 River 
Street. The machinery and appa- 
ratus contained in the malt-house and 
the brewery are deemed the best used 
by maltsters and brewers The malt 
house was erected in 1877, and the 
brewery in 1881. The brewing ca- 
pacity of the establishment is about 
70,000 barrels of ale and porter annu- 
ally. The firm employs about seventy 
men. The firm's New York City 
depot is at No. 439 Washington 
Street, corner of Desbrosses Street. 
The firm's predecessors were James 
Lundy, who began brewing, in 1852, 
at No. 461 River Street; Lundy & 
Ingram, 1S53 ! Lundy & Kennedy, 
1855; Lundy, Dunn, & Co., 1857; 
Dunn & Kennedy, 1859. On October 
I, 1866, Michael, John and Edmund 
Fitzgerald formed the firm of Fitzger- 
ald Brothers. On the withdrawal of 
Michael Fitzgerald, in 1870, John and 
Edmund succeeded to the business. 
On the death of John Fitzgerald, in 
1885, his heirs acquired his interest. 

Kennedy & Murphy, brewers of 
ale and porter, have one of the largest 
brewing establishments in the city. 
The different buildings, on the south 
side of Ferry Street, a short distance 
east of Fifth Street, cover a plat of 
ground, 450 by 250 feet. Opposite it, 
on the northeast corner of Ferry and 
Sixth streets, is one of the three large 
malt-houses belonging to the firm. 
The establishment is furnished with 
the latest improved inventions and 
conveniences for malting and brew- 
ing. William Kennedy, the senior 
member of the firm, engaged in the 
brewing business in Troy in 1855, and 
Edward Murphy, jr., in 1863. His 
father, Edward Murphy, sr., began 
brewing in Troy in 1846. The site of 



the Excelsior Brewery has for more 
than three-quarters of a century been 
occupied by buildings in which ale 
and porter have been made. A part 
of the site was purchased on June 8, 
1809, by Charles Hurstfield and 
Thomas Trenor, two brewers from 
Lansingburgh, who shortly thereafter 
erected on the plat a brewery. On 
July I, 1823, Sterling Armstrong and 
Thomas Read purchased the property, 
which is described in the deed as 
"situate in the back part of the city 
of Troy," and the building as "a 
brewery lately occupied by Charles 
Hurstfield and Thomas Trenor. " The 
successors of Read & Armstrong have 
been Read, Armstrong, & Co., 1832: 
Read & Son, 1837 ; M. P. Read & 
Brothers, 1841 ; Read & Brothers, 
1847 ; Arba Read, 1856 ; Read Broth- 
ers, 1857 ; Dunn & Kennedy, 1867 ; 
and Kennedy & Murphy, November I, 
1867. 

Bridges. — Two iron bridges span 
the Hudson in front of ihe city. On 
April 9, 1809, the legislature passed 
an act, incorporating a company to 
construct a bridge across the Hudson 
at the foot of Ferry Street. The 
erection of the bridge was prevented 
by the opponents of the undertaking 
obtaining the appointment of com- 
missioners to report on the feasibility 
of building the bridge high enough to 
permit the passage of masted vessels 
under it. 'I'he commissioners report- 
ed that the projected bridge would 
impede the navigation of sailing craft 
unless it should be built ninety feet 
above the river. The report was ap- 
proved, and the project was aban- 
doned. In 1814, the legislature was 
petitioned by certam citizens of Al- 
bany " to bring in a bill for the erec- 
tion of a toll-bridge across the Hud- 
son river at the most eligible spot 
between Columbia Street and the 
street north of the arsenal at Albany." 



41 



A meeting was held in the court- 
house, in Troy, on the evening of 
January ii, that year, and resolutions 
were passed to oppose the passage of 
the bill. This action of ihe people of 
Troy was the beginning of the long- 
continued opposition waged against 
the construction of a bridge across the 
Hudson at Albany. It did not cease 
until a half century later, or until 
April 9, 1856, when the bill was passed 
to construct the bridge at Albany, 
completed February 22, 1866. 

The Rensselaer and Saratoga 
Railroad Bridge spans the Hud- 
son between Troy and Green Island, 
at Bridge Avenue. The act incorpo- 
rating the Rensselaer and Saratoga 
Railioad Company, passed Apiil 14, 
1832, precluded it from constructing 
a bridge across the Hudson within two 
miles of the Union Bridge, between 
Waterford and Lansingburgh. The 
company, however, was permitted to 
contract for the use of it. But the 
people of Lansingburgh were unwill- 
ing to allow the company to extend 
the line of its road through the vil- 
lage, and therefore the company un- 
dertook, in 1834, the erection of the 
wooden one, the first bridge construct- 
ed across the Hudson between the 
Bay of New York and the head of 
navigation at Waterford. It was built 
by Damon & Hayward. It was 1,600 
feet long, and rested on eight stone 
piers. It was roofed, and at its 
eastern end there was a draw of sixty 
feet. Its width was sufficient for a 
railroad track, a carriage-road and a 
foot-way. The first train of cars 
passed over it on October 6, 1835. 
The division of the bridge into two 
parts was subsequently made by fdling 
in earth on Centre Island. In 1853, 
the bridge was widened by an addi- 
tion to the north side of it. On Sat- 
urday noon, May 10, 1862, sparks 
from an engine lodged in the roof of 
the western end of the eastern section 



of the bridge and set it on fire. A 
gale was blowing from the northwest, 
and the flames were soon under such 
headway that it was impossible for 
the firemen to extinguish them, and 
the bridge fell burning into the river. 
(See Fire of 1862.) Immediately 
thereafter the construction of a new 
section of the bridge was begun. 
While the structure was building a 
ferry was established between the city 
and Centre Island for the transfer of 
freight and passengers. The western 
section of the present iron bridge was 
built in 1876, and the eastern in 1884. 

Congress Street Bridge, be- 
tween Troy and West Troy, was 
opened to the public on Friday, Oc- 
2, 1874. The act incorporating the 
Troy and West Troy Bridge Company 
was passed April 23. 1872 Capital 
stock, $150,000; bonds, $200,000. 
The work of constructing the stone 
piers of the iron structure was begun 
in the fall of 1872. The bridge cost 
about $350,000. The office of the 
company is at No. 153 River Street. 
James Forsyth, president ; John F 
Roy, vice-president ; E. R. Vail, sec- 
retary and treasurer. 

Broadway became the name of 
Albanv Street in 1861. 



Brunswick, a town of Rensse- 
laer County, erected March 20, 1807. 
It extends along the east bounds of 
the towns of Lansingburgh and Troy. 
Population : 1810, 2,302 ; 1815, 2,233 ; 
1820, 2,318 ; 1825, 2,478 ; 1830, 2,575 ; 
1835. 2,679 ; 1840, 3,051 ; 1845, 2,855 ; 
1850, 3,146 ; 1855, 3,101 ; i860, 3. no; 
1865, 3,175 ; 1870, 3,128; 1S75. 3.237; 
1880, 3,402. 

Eagle Mills, formerly called Mill- 
town, in the town of Brunswick, is 
about four miles from Troy It con- 
tains about sixty buildings, including 
two churches, two stores, a hoe manu- 



43 



factory, a foundry, and a tavern. Pop- 
ulation about 500. Cropseyville is 
near the eastern limits of tlie town. 
Brunswick Centre, Clum's Corners, 
Haynerville, Platesville, and Rock 
Hollow are small villages in the town. 

Burden Iron Company.— The 

appliances for manufacturing annu- 
ally fifty one millions of horse and 
mule shoes, enough to shoe the feet of 
more than twelve millions of horses 
and mules, are but a part of the mas- 
sive machinery contained in the mile 
or more of buildings of the extensive 
works of the company occupying two 
locations in the south part of the city ; 
one immediately south of the Wynants 
Kill, the other north of the stream. 
In 1809, John Converse and several 
other copartners leased two water 
privileges on the creek, and erected at 
the upper fall a rolling and slitting 
mill. The establishment was enlarged 
in 1813, when it became the property 
of the 

Troy Iron and Nail Factory 
Company ; John Converse, Ruggles 
Whiting, Nathaniel Adams, E. F. 
Backus, and Henry W. Delevan. 
The purpose of ihe company, disclosed 
in the articles of incorporation, was 
the manufacture of bar-iron, steel, 
nail-rods, hoop-iron, sheet-copper, ma- 
chinery, tools and implements. Cap- 
ital $96,000. In 1822, Henry Burden 
became the superintendent of the es- 
tablishment, when that year he moved 
from Albany, where he had been en- 
gaged in manufacturing agricultural 
implements. The works are described 
in Spafford's Gazetteer of the State of 
Nev/ York, published in 1824. 
*' Among the manufacturing establish- 
ments of this town, ihe Troy Iron 
and Nail Factory claims distinguished 
notice. It stands on the Wynants 
Kill, in the 6th ward, 2^ miles s. of 
the city, and is owned by an incorpo- 
rated company, principally in Albany. 



These works embrace a rolling and 
slitting mill, a very extensive nail fac- 
tory, sundry shops for other mechani- 
cal business, and about 50 houses, 
making a busy, sequestered, manufac- 
turing village, which, in compliment 
to a man of distinguished merit, I 
shall call Adamsvile [in honor of Col. 
Nathaniel Adams]. * * * The 
nail factory is a stone edifice of great 
extent, calculated to contain 24 cut- 
ting and heading machines, all driven 
by water power, by one enormous iron 
wheel. * * * It is calculated to 
work up one-thDusand tons of iron a 
year." An invention which largely 
increased the productions of the works 
shortly thereafter was a wrought-nail 
and spike machine made by Henry 
Burden, for which he received a pat- 
ent. May 26, 1825. In the Troy Di- 
rectory of 1839 the works are thus de- 
scribed : 

" Troy Iron and Nail Factory, John 
Converse, agent. At these works 900 
tons of iron were rolled last year, of 
whi.h 650 tons were cut into nails. 
More than 5,000 nail-kegs were used ; 
350 tons of Lehigh coal, with 10,000 
bushels of charcoal, were consumed ; 
and more than 40 men employed. 
The annual disbursement on account 
of this establishment is about $150,- 
000, of which the largest part is paid 
for iron ; and about $30,000 for labor 
immediately connected with the 
works." 

" The spike factory, owned by the 
proprietors of the iron and nail fac- 
tory, made about 150 tons of wrought 
spikes, employed 8 men, and con- 
sumed about 40 tons of Lehigh coal, 
with about 2,000 bushels charcoal. 

The second machine patented by 
Henry Burden, December 2, 1834, 
for making counter-sunk railroad 
spikes to fasten flat rails to longitu- 
dinal .sleepers, further enlarged tlie 
company's business. The most valu- 
able machine constructed by him was 



44 




one for making horseshoes, for which, 
in 1835, he obtained a patent. When 
it was put in operation many persons 
visited the factory to see it make fif- 
teen to twenty shoes a minute. The 
ingenious inventor, however, was not 
satisfied with the machine. It was 
his desire to construct one to take a 
bar of iron from the roll-train, and to 
made a shoe without reheating the 
metal. In 1843, he improved the ma- 
chine, reducing its action to two move- 
ments. In 1857, he succeeded in per- 
fecting one which, after receiving the 
heated bar, cut, bent, and forged it 
into a shoe in one movement. In 
1836, having undertaken the manu- 
facture of hook-headed spikes for lay- 
ing " T " and " H " rails, then begin- 
ning to supersede the use of flat rails, 
the company was given its first order 
for ten tons of them by the Long 
Island Railroad Company. In 1840, 
Henry Burden was granted a patent 
for the invention of the hook -headed 
spike machine. 

The five water-wheels of the works 
being insufficient to operate the num- 
ber of spike and horseshoe machines 
required by the company, Henry Bur- 
den constructed, in 1838-39, the im- 
mense water-wheel, which Louis Gay- 
lord Clark figuratively denominated, 
" the Niagara of water-wheels." In 
1 85 1, it gave place to the present large 
one of 1,200 horse-power. It is an 
over-shot wheel, 60 feet in diameter, 
with a width of 22 feet. Around its 
broad periphery are 36 buckets, 6 feet 
3 inches deep. Although the cele- 
brated wheel at the Isle of Man has a 
diameter of 70 feet, its buckets are 
only 6 feet wide, and its estimated 
power is only 200 horse. By the en- 
terprise of Henry Burden, the supply 
of water in the Wynants Kill was 
largely increased by the construction 
of storage reservoirs at Sandlake, 
whereby channels connecting several 
lakes a great quantity of surplus water 



w/'?//:'';?i'5,'isi'ri|ii,i™'|-i m^ 



W'Mf^mm^W I' :.:>»' 




46 



was obtained to feed the Wynants Kill 
in seasons of drought. The reservoir 
immediately east of the Upper Works, 
covering an area of 14 acres, was con- 
structed in 1846. The great water- 
wheel is turned by water flowing from 
it through a narrow race. 

The " Burden rotary concentric 
squeezer," patented in 1840, was an- 
other of Henry Burden's valuable in- 
ventions. It is now in use in neatly 
all the iron mills in this country and 
in Europe. 

The United States government 
having purchased the Burden horse 
and mule shoes before the civil war, 
deemed them so important a muni- 
tion that at the beginning of the re- 
bellion it was thought expedient to 
take possession of the works, but H. 
Burden & Sons gave such assurances 
of supplying the orders of the govern- 
ment that the firm was permitted to 
continue the manufacture of the much 
needed shoes. When the military op- 
erations assumed their later astonish- 
ing magnitude, the government's de- 
mand for them was greatly augmented. 
Foreign military officers were much 
surprised to find them so abundantly 
supplied when the war department de- 
sired them. Some of the most suc- 
cessful cavalry movements were made 
practicable by the promptness with 
which H. Burden & Sons filled the 
large orders of the war department. 
In order to obtain horse and mule 
shoes the Confederate government 
gave orders that whenever opportu- 
nity offered of capturing wagon trains 
belonging to the United Slates 
armies, that the wagons containing 
horse and mule shoes should first be 
secured. In the last years of the war, 
the Confederate government was in so 
sore need of horse and mule shoes 
that it contemplated undertaking their 
manufacture at Atlanta, Georgia. It 
was proposed that a man named 
Moses, of Atlanta, then residing in 



Toronto, Canada, should visit Troy, 
and secretly obtain drawings of the 
Burden machines, by which others, to 
be used at Atlanta, could be con- 
structed. Shei man's march to the 
sea, it is said, abruptly terminated the 
undertaking. 

The company is now largely en- 
gaged in manufacturing the new 
swaged shoes, on machines invented 
by James A. Burden, for which he ob- 
tained a patent in 1876. 

Purchasing from time to time the 
stock of the Troy Iron and Nail Fac- 
tory Company, Henry Burden, in 
1835, was the owner of about one 
half of the number of shares. For 
his assignment to the company of the 
patents of the spike, horseshoe and 
other machines he was allowed 30 
per cent of their net earnings, which 
did not include his share of the earn- 
ings of the works. In 1848, he be- 
came sole proprietor of the establish- 
ment, which still bore the name of the 
Troy Iron and Nail Factory. About 
the year 1838, he was elected presi- 
dent of the company. In 1859, James 
A. Burden was made superintendent 
of the establishment. The firm of 

H. Burden & Sons was formed in 
1864, the co-partners, being Henry 
Burden, William F. Burden, James A. 
Buiden, and I. Townsend Burden. 
On the death of William F. Burden, 
December 7, 1867, the business was 
continued by the other members of 
the firm. On the death of Henry 
Burden, January 19, 1871, James A. 
and I. Townsend Burden conducted 
the business under the firm-name of 
H. Burden & Sons, until the incorpo- 
ration of the 

Burden Iron Company, June 30, 
1881, having a capital of $2,000,000, 
divided into three parts : James A. 
Burden, I Townsend Burden, and 
John L. Arts, trustees and stockhold- 
ers. On July I, the company was 
organized by the election of James A. 



48 



Burden, president, I. Townsend Bur- 
den, vice-president, and John L. Arts, 
general manager. The present offi- 
cers of the company are James A. 
Burden, president, John L. Arts, 
general manager, and N. J. Gable, 
secretary. 

The different buildings of the com- 
pany are those of "The Upper Works" 
or " Water Mills," on the south side 
of the Wynants Kill, on the hill east 
of the Hudson; and "The Lower 
Works " or " Steam Mills," built on 
the east bank of the Hudson, imme- 
diately north of the mouth of the 
Wynants Kill. The latter occupy a 
part of a tract of land of foriy-five 
acres, extending three-quarters of a 
mile along the Hudson from the creek 
northward to the Clin on Stove Works 
of the Fuller & Warren Company. 
They embrace two blast furnace-, 60 
feet high, with two casting houses, 
each 92 by 47 feet ; two stock houses, 
each 114 by 65 feet; a rolling mill, 
421 by 96 feet ; two puddling forges, 
one 706 by 83 feet, and one 416 by 
58 feet ; a horseshoe swaging shop, 
271 by 45 ftet ; a horseshoe store- 
house, 590 by 60 feet, having a ca- 
pacity for 240,000 kegs of finished 
horse and mule shoes; an iron ware- 
house, 167 by 55 feel; a machine 
shop, 140 by 57 feet ; a blacksmith 
shop, 130 by 55 feet, and other large 
structures, which, if compactly aligned 
with those of " The Upper Works," 
would be more than a mile long. The 
first buildings at "The Lower Works" 
were erected in 1862. 

The "Upper Works" include a roll- 
ing mill and puddling forge, 358 by 
136 feet, two horseshoe factories, one 
125 by 34 feet, and one 120 by 40 feet; 
a rivet factory, 120 by 80 feet ; a rivet 
store -house, semi-circular, 168 by 120 
feet ; a scrap-house and shop, 175 by 
50 feet, and other adjacent buildings. 

In the different buildings of the im- 
mense establishment are 100 puddling 



furnaces, 20 heating furnaces, 1 5 trains 
of rolls, 4 squeezers, 11 large and 15 
small steam engines, besides a num- 
ber of horseshoe and rivet machines. 

The magnitude of the means of the 
Burden Iron Company may be com- 
prehended when it is known that the 
works have a capacity for making an- 
nually 600,000 kegs, or about 51,000,- 
000 horse and mule shoes. Besides 
producing these, the company also 
manufactures annually thousands of 
tons of boiler rivets, and a still larger 
quantify of merchant iron. 

The company's office-building is an 
attractive brick structure, 68 by 86 
feet, at the north side of the lower 
mills ; the entrance to which is at 
Main Street, crossed by the street 
cars, and a short distance north of the 
Iron-Works station of the Troy and 
Greenbush Railroad, (Hudson River 
Railroad). The counting room and 
private offices are appropriately furn- 
ished ; telephone and telegraph wires 
connecting them with the upper and 
lower works and with the city ser- 
vice. 

Burdett Building, Nos. 251 
and 253 River Street, was erected in 
1881, by George C. Burdett, deceased. 
The salerooms and offices of Burdett, 
Smith, & Co., stove manufacturers, are 
on the first floor of the building 
Kelly & Knox insurance agents ; 
Morrison, Colwell, & Page, iron found- 
ers ; and Hermann, Aukanti, & Co., 
manufacturers of women's underwear, 
occupy rooms on the second floor. 
The last mentioned firm has its man- 
ufacturing rooms on the upper floors. 
The building was partly burned on 
February 2, 1883, 

Caledonian Club of Troy and 
Cohoes, organized January 29, 1872, 
meets on the second and fourth Tues- 
day evenings, in the building. No. 279 
River Street. 




BURDETT BUILDING, 25I AND 253 RIVER STREET. 



50 



Candy Manufacturer. - 

M. D. Saxe, No. 215 Broadway, 
retail store; No. 415 Fulton Street, 
wholesale store and manufactory. 

Carpenters and Builders. — 

Charles Duncan, No. 6 and 8 
Mechanic Street, between Federal 
and Grand Division streets. 

Charles P. Hutchins, rear of 22 
State Street, between Second and 
Third streets. 

Lemmon & Robinson, (John Lem- 
mon and Richard F. Robinson, north- 
west corner of Mechanic and Federal 
streets. 

John McBride, rear of No. 464 
River Street, between King and Hut- 
ton streets. 

G. W. Oliver, west side of Me- 
chanic Street, between Fulton and 
Grand Division streets. 

Carpets and Oil Cloths — 

Metcalf & Co., dealers in carpets 
and oil cloths, have one of the largest 
sale and display rooms in the city. It 
is in the building Nos. 15 and 17 
Third Street, west side, between 
Broadway and Fulton Street, on the 
floor immediately above the Postoffice. 
The attractive room is one hundred 
and thirty-four feet deep, with a width 
of fifty feet. It is excellently lighted 
by large windows, affording the requi- 
site light, which is unquestionably a 
special advantage to buyers in ex- 
amining and comparing the fabric and 
desig;ns of the large stock of fine car- 
pets contained in the spacious apart- 
ment. When they are unrolled and 
laid in paralled widths, the general 
effect of any of the Mcquetie, Ax- 
minster, Wilton, Brussels, ingrain and 
other carpets is readily perceived. 



Selections of carpeting for hotels, 
halls and hou.ses can. in this way, 
be judiciously made. Metcalf & Co. 
have besides a great number of beau- 
tiful lace and drapery curta ns and 
window shades, and also oil cloths for 
halls, stairs and tables, variously de- 
signed and of all widths Canton 
and cocoa mattings and rugs of differ- 
ent patterns also compose a part of 
the firm's large stock of goods. Car- 
pets when purchased are sewed and 
laid by the firm's competent workmen 
with the utmost care and dispatch. 
Curtains wiih the latest approved fix- 
tures are quickly hung by them. The 
firm of Metcalf & Co. was formed on 
February l, 1886, and succeeded to 
the business begun in 1865 by Flagg, 
King, & Co., in the building on the 
northeast corner of Fulton and Fourth 



Cars.— 

The Gilhert Car Manufactur- 
ing Company, whose extensive build- 
ings cover about twelve acres of land 
in the central part of Green Island, is 
widely known as one of the principal 
car manufacturing companies in the 
United Stales. Uri Gilbert its presi- 
dent, as early as the year 1830, became 
a partner of Orsamus Eaton, who, 
about the year 1823, began making 
carriages and other vehicles, in a 
building on the south side of Piatt 
Titus's tavern, now the Troy House. 
The manufacture of stage-coaches 
half a century ago in Troy gave no lit- 
tle distinction to the city. The enter- 
prise of those engaged in the business 
is mentioned with evident pride by 
the Troy Sentinel of May 8, 1827 : 
" The improvement in the mode of 
conveyance in this country is not con- 
fined to steamboats and the water, as 
those may well testify who recollect 
the difference between our light, ele- 
gant and convenient stage-coaches^ 



51 



with their spring seats and easy mo- 
tion, and the lumbering vehicles which 
were in use for the purpose some 
twelve or fifteen years ago We 
are happy to know that the public are 
indebted to the ingenuity and enter- 
prise of citizens of Troy for some of 
these additional conveniences. The 
valuable improvement of fixing a seat 
over the baggage and a railing around 
the top of the carriage was first intro- 
duced, we believe, by Mr. [Charles] 
Veazie of this city ; and in one of the 
elegant stage-coaches lately turned 
out from the shop of O. Eaton, we 
notiie a still further improvement of 
a similar kind. An extra seat is 
placed on the top of the coach, just 
behind the seat of the driver. It is 
thus fixed in a more pleasant and 
agreeable situation, and gives, at the 
same time, a better balance to the 
load." A year later, the following 
description of a Troy stage-coach ap- 
peared in the same paper; "The 
lines and curves of the carriage are 
full of grace, and it is furnished with 
seats for 21 persons, 12 outsiders and 
9 insiders — viz. : a seat over the bag- 
gage rack, one fronting it on the top 
behind the driver's seat, and one 
above it, on the front top, each for 
three, and the three usual inside 
seats." In 1S28, Orsamus Eaton 
moved his establishment to the north- 
west corner of Sixth and Albany 
(Broadway) streets where, in 1830, 
he and Uri Gilbert formed the firm of 
Eaton & Gilbert, which conducted 
the business until 1844, when, on 
March 18, Edward O. Eaton became 
a copartner, and the name of the firm 
was clianged to that of Eaton, Gil- 
bert, & Co. In 1830, ihe manufacture 
of stage-coaches at the factory of 
Charles Veazie, and at that of Orsa- 
mus Eaton, had increased the number 
annually made in Troy to 50, valued 
at $60,000, and in 1832 to 200. Not 
a few coaches, " diligencias generales," 



were made by them for stage-roads in 
Mexico. Between the years 1847 and 
1853, the stagecoaches made by 
Eaton, Gilbert, & Co. were running 
on almost all the mail routes in every 
state in the Union. In 1850, not less 
than 5,000 were in use in the United 
States, Canada, Mexico, and South 
America. What untold recollections 
are stirred by the mention of the 
names of the old-time stage lines, and 
the different designations given the 
coaches owned by them ! How many 
gray-haired men and women in the 
United States remember the '* Tele- 
graph," the " Dispatch," and the 
" Potomac," of the Good Intent Stage 
Company; the "Great Western," of 
the Ohio Stage Company ; " Fashion," 
" Beauty," " Herald," " Jewess," and 
" Brilliant," of the National Road 
Stage Company? Besides the large 
number of stage-coaches made by 
Eaton, Gilbert, & Co., they also man- 
ufactured omnibuses, for routes in the 
cities of Boston, New York, Philadel- 
phia, and Baltimore. In 1841, Eaton 
& Gilbert began manufacturing rail- 
road coaches. Shortly afterward the 
firm also began making freight-cars. 
The firm built the first eight-wheel 
passenger-cars run on the Schenectady 
and Troy Railroad. The growth of 
the business of Eaton, Gilbert, & Co. 
is seen in the number of cars, omni- 
buses, and stage-coaches made by 
them in 1850: Stage-coaches, 100; 
omnibuses, 50; passenger-cars, 30; 
freight-cars, 150. On the afternoon 
of October 28, 1852, their car shops 
on Sixth Street were destroyed by fire. 
In January, 1853, they sold their 
property on Sixth Street to the Union 
Railroad Company, and afterward 
occupied their new buildings on the 
northwest corner of George and Clin- 
ton streets. Green Island. On the 
introduction of street-cars in the large 
cities, Eaton, Gilbert, & Co. made 
many for the different lines in Boston, 



53 



New York, Chicago, and St. Louis. 
In 1862, the partnership of Eaton. 
Gilbert, & Co. was dissolved, and Uri 
Gilbert continued the business until 
1863, when William E. Gilbert be- 
came associated in it with his father, 
under the firm-name of Uri Gilbert & 
Son. In August, 1864, a part of the 
car-works were burned. New build- 
ings were erected, and the business 
greatly enlarged. During ihe war 
about five hundred gun-carriages for 
the United Slates government were 
made at the works. In 1S64, the firm 
of Uri Gilbert & Son was succeeded 
by that of Gilbert, Bush, & Co., the 
former partners admitting Walter 
R. Bush into the business. In 1S67, 
Edward G. Gilbert and Walter R. 
Bush, jr., were admitted into the 
partnership, and in 1869, L. O. Han- 
som. In 1S72, the latter withdrew. 
The firm of Gilbert, Bush, & Co. 
was succeeded by the Gilbert & Bush 
Company, on January i, 1879. On 
August 25, 1882, the Gilbert Car 
Manufacturing Company was organ- 
ized, and took control of the business. 
Besides constructing for many railroad 
lines in the United States various 
classes of cars, ranging from plainly 
built freight to elaborately ornamented 
boudoir cars, the company manu- 
factures a large number of passenger 
coaches for lines in Australia, New 
Zealand, and South America. Cars 
shipped to distant parts of the world 
are made in sections, for compact 
packing. The sides, ends, tops, and 
bottoms of fifteen cars, when closely 
packed, occupy no more space than 
that taken by a single car when on 
wheels. The different parts of these 
cars are made according 10 a standard 
scale, so that, if any be lost, dupli- 
cates may be forwarded to the com- 
pany to whom the former were 
shipped. Sometimes as many as forty 
cars are transported to New York in 
a barge, to be shipped thence to their 



different destinations. The car- works 
are adjacent the Rensselaer and 
Saratoga Railroad, which affords the 
company the facilities of sending cars 
on wheels direct from the establish- 
ment to different roads in the United 
States and Canada. The large work- 
shops and lumber-yards of the com- 
pany, occupying a half score of 
squares in the central part of Green 
Island village, are between Clinton 
Street on the south and Swan S.reet 
on the north, and range from George 
Street on the east to the company's 
e.xtensive wharf on the south branch 
of the Mohawk River on the west. 

The officers of the company are : 
Uri Gilbert, president and treasurer ; 
Edward G. Gilbert, vice-president 
and assistant treasurer; William E. 
Gilbert, second vice-president, and 
Frederick S. Young, secretary. The 
company's post-office address is Troy, 
N. Y. 

Carving, Wood and Stone. — 

L. H. De Zouche, carving in wood 
and stone ; church-work a specialty ; 
No. 451 and 453 Fulton Street. 

Car Wheels.— 

Jonas S. Heartt & Co., car wheel 
manufacturers. Second Stieet, corner 
of Ida Street. 

Cemeteries. — From 1786 to 1886, 
a period of one hundred years, not 
less than fifty thousand interments 
have been made in the old grave-yards 
and later cemeteries on and around 
the site of Troy. In 1786, when set- 
tlers began to lease building lots at 
Van der Heyden's Ferry, there were 
evidences of a grave-yard on the plat 
of ground now covered by the build- 
ing on the southeast corner of Congress 
and River streets. When the Yvonnet 
building, on its site, was burned, and 



54 



excavations were made for the founda- 
tions of another structure, the remains 
of bodies buried there were exhumed, 
which, it is said, were then interred 
in Mount Ida Cemeteiy. On the hill, 
east of Eighth Strfer, on the dividing 
line of the Warren and Seminary 
properties, was the burial-ground of 
the Van der Heyden family, inclosed 
by a high stone-wall. The remains 
interred there wete, in July, 1857, 
transferred to Oakwood Cemetery. 
Near the intersection of Madison and 
Fourth streets was the Schuyler family 
grave-yard. The tomb-stones in it 
were still standing in 1848. A half 
century ago, the Society of Friends 
had a grave-yard on the south side of 
Hoosick Street, east of the line of 
Ninth Street. 

Third Street Burial-Ground. 
The plat of ground on which the City 
Hall is built was conveyed, on May 
10, 1796, by Jacob D. Van der Hey- 
den, to the trustees of the village, 
"to be used for a public burial 
ground." After Oakwood Cemetery 
was laid out, many of the remains 
in it were buried there. When the 
grave-yard was taken in 1875 for the 
site of the City Hall, the remains of 
208 persons were exhumed and in- 
terred in Oakwood Cemeteiy. Be- 
neath the sod of the unoccupied space 
between the City Hall and the Baptist 
Church is a number of graves covered 
with the marble slabs which once 
marked them. Among them is the 
grave of I'latt Titus, who, at the time 
of his death, on Thursday, April 30, 
1833, had been proprietor of the Troy 
House nearly 30 years 

Troy Cemetery. This burial 
ground, east of Mount Ida and west 
of Ida Falls, the entrance to which is 
at the foot of Chestnut Street, south 
of Congress Street, was given to the 
trustees of the village by Stephen 



Van Rensselaer, in 1814. The deed 
conveying it to the village authorities 
is dated, January 20, 1815. In the 
neglected grave-yard is a head-stone 
on which is inscribed : " In memory 
of Mr. George Young, who died 
November 6, 1814, .'E, 55 years. 
Note. — The subject of the above in- 
scription is the first person whose 
mortal remains have been deposited 
in this burying-ground." 

Mount Ida Cemetery ground, on 
the east side of Pawling Avenue, was 
purchased by the city, January i, 1832. 
The south part of it, known as the 
old Catholic burying-ground, was sold 
to the trustees of St. Peter's Roman 
Catholic Church, on February 5, 1835. 

St Mary's Cemetery, on the 
north side of the Brunswick and Pitts- 
town turnpike, was purchased by the 
Rev. Peter Havermans, on September 
10, 1845, and by him conveyed, on 
December 8, 1866, to the trustees of 
the cemetery. 

Oakwood Cemetery. On Sep- 
tember 9, 1848, the Troy Cemetery 
Association was organized, and John 
Pa'ne, D. Thomas Vail, Isaac McCon- 
ihe, George M. Tibbits, John B. 
Gale, and Stephen E. Warren were 
elected trustees. A committee was 
appointed to report an eligible loca- 
tion for a cemetery. The attractive 
site of Oakwood Cemetery was se- 
lected. On September 5, 1849, the 
first land embraced in its area was 
purchased, and thereafter laid out into ■ 
roads, walks, and burial plats by J. C. 
Sidney, an experienced landscape en- 
gineer, of Philadelphia. On Octo- 
ber 16, 1850, the grounds were conse- 
crated, and named Oakwood Ceme- • 
tery. Its present area includes about ,< 
300 acres of land. In the beautiful 
cemetery are the graves of thousands 1 
of people who in past years acted 1 
their parts and ended their careers ia 1 






55 



Troy. In 1884-85, the entrance to 
the grounds on Cemetery Avenue 
was made more attractive by the erec- 
tion of iron-gates, a keeper's lodge, 
and the planting of trees and shrub- 
bery along the broad avenue leading 
to the elevated parts of the secluded 
necropolis. In it is the conspicuous 
monolith, seventy five feet in height, 
marking the burial place of Major- 



marble tablet, inscribed : " In mem- 
ory of Jacob D. Vanderheyden, who 
departed this life, Sept. 4th, 1809, 
aged 50 years, 10 months and 12 
days." 

The Sixth Ward Cemetery, on 
the hill-side west of Vandenburgh 
Avenue, near the Burden Iron Com- 
pany's upper works, is a small plat 




keki'er's lodge at oakwood cemetery. 



Geneial John E. Wool, who died in 
Troy, November 10, 1873. The 
tomb of Major-General George H. 
Thoma";, who died in San Francisco, 
March 28, 1 870, is also to be seen 
near it, overshadowed by the sculp- 
tured form of an Ameiican eagle, with 
outspread wings. There, also, is the 
grave of Jacob D. Van der Heyden, 
the patroon of Troy, marked by a 



of ground, which was conveyed May 
17, 1836, to the city by the Troy Nail 
Factory Company, to be used as a 
public burial ground for that part of 
the city, 

New Mount Ida Cemetery 
ground, on the north side of Pine 
Woods Avenue, a half mile east of 
Mount Ida Cemetery, was purchased 
by the city, October 5, 1854. 



56 



St. Peter's Church Cemetery 
ground, opposite and eastj of Oak- 
wood Cemetery, was purchased by 
the Right Rev. John McCloskey, 
Bishop of Albany, February li, 1858. 

St. Joseph's Cemetery ground, 
on the high land between the Poesten 
and Wynants kills, was purchased by 
the Rev. Joseph Loyzance, of St. 
Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, on 
November i. i860. 

Rural Cemetery, about two miles 
south of West Troy, was projected 
in 1840, for a burial place for the dead 
of Albany City and vicinity. The 
Rural Cemetery Association was in- 
corporated, April 20, 1841. The 
ground was consecrated, October 7, 
1844. The first interment was made 
there in May, 1845. 

St. Agnes Cemetery. The 
ground of St. Agnes Cemetery, ad- 
joining Rural Cemetery, was pur- 
chased by Roman Catholic people, 
March i, 1867. St Agnes Cemetery 
Association was incorporated. May 9, 
that year, and the cemetery conse- 
crated. May 19 

Census. (See Population.) 

Center Island, opposite ihat 
part of the city between Fulton and 
Grand Division streets, is delineated 
on John Klein's map of Troy, pub- 
lished in 1818, and named Fish 
Island. After the erection of the Star- 
buck buildings on the island, in 
1853-54, it was commonly called Star- 
buck Island. In later yeais, it has 
borne the name of Center Island. 

Chains. — 

The American Chain Cable 
Works, on the bank of the Hudson, 
between Douw Street and Smith Av- 
enue, were established, in 1865, by 



Joseph B. Carr and N. J. Rockwell. 

On the latter's retirement that year, 
William Kemp and De Witt Tuthill 
became associated with J. B. Carr, 
under the former firm-name of J. B. 
Carr & Co. The establishment is a 
large brick building, 125 by 180 feet. 
The firm's office is at No. 10 Douw 
Street. The excellence of the chains 
and cables made by the firm has given 
them an extensive sale not only in the 
United States, but in so distant a 
country as Norway. Burden's best 
iron is used, and each chain and 
cable is subjected to the English ad- 
miralty test before it is shipped from 
the works. They have a capacity for 
making ten tons of chains and cables 
daily. About 70 skilled workmen 
are employed. On the death of De- 
Witt Tuthill. March 4. 18S6, J. B. 
Carr and William Kemp became the 
proprietors of the works, under the 
firm name of J. B. Carr & Co. 

Chair Company.— (See Troy 
Chair Company.) 

Chatauqua Literary and 
Scientific Circle. The Vincent 
Circle, formed October, 1S82, meets 
on the first Thursday evening in each 
month, from October to June. 

Churches.— There are forty-six 
churches within the limits of the city. 
If Westminster Presbyterian Church, 
immediately north of the city limi s, 
and St. Michael's, Rom.in Catholic, 
immediately south of the city limits, 
are added to the number, there are 
forty-eight, denominationally embrac- 
ing 5 Baptist ; l Church of Christ ; 
7 Episcopal ; i Evangelical, (Ger- 
man) ; 2 Jewish; i Lutheran, (Ger- 
man) ; 9 Methodist, including i Ger- 
man ; 12 Presbyterian ; 8 Roman 
Catholic, including i French and 
I German ; f Unitarian, and i Univer- 
salist. 



57 



Church Homes.— (See Home 

OF THE Aged Poor ; Presbyterian 
Church Home; Protestant Epis- 
copal Church Home.) 

Church of Christ, northeast 
corner of River and Jay streets. On 
May 14, 1837, the society, named the 
Congregation of Jesus Christ, was or- 
ganized by Benjamin Read, James 
Rumbold, and Joseph W. Ager. On 
May 13, 1838, Dexter Moody became 
a member of it, who sometime after- 
ward erected a one-story, weather- 
boarded building for a house of wor- 
ship, on the west side of North Second 
Street, between Jay and Vanderhey- 
den streets, now converttd into a dwell- 
ling, known as No. 221. The society 
flouiished about a decade of years. 

The Church of Christ w as organ- 
ized, June 2, 1866, in the hall of the 
Troy Young Men's Association. The 
Rev. W. A. Belding was the first pas- 
tor, and Joseph H. Rhodes, Jeremiah 
Washburn, and James B. Thomas the 
first trustees. The socie y erected a 
brick church, in 1868, on the south- 
west corner of Seventh and Fulton 
streets, which was dedicated on De- 
cember 3. that ytar. The building 
was purchased in February, 18S5, by 
the members of St. Paul's Evangeli- 
cal Church. In April, 1885, ground 
was purchased on the northeast cor- 
ner of River and Jay streets, on which 
an attractive bri.k church was erected. 
It was dedicated November i, 1885. 
The bell and the tower weie the gift 
of Dexter Moody. Sittings 400. 
Total cost of building, furniture, and 
bell, $18,318.07. Number of mem- 
bers about 281. 

Pastors: W. A. Belding. 1866 to 
1872; Levi Osborn. 1S72 ; \V. A. 
Belding, 1873 ; W. H. Rogers, 1874 
to 1875 ". Joseph Bradford Cleaver, 

1876 to 1877 ; O. ¥. Bartholomew, 

1877 to 1878; Charles Robertson, 
1879 to 1880 ; W. T. Mason, 1880 to 



1883 ; Simon Rohrer, 1883 to 1884 ; 
R. W. Stancill, 1884 to present time. 

Citizens' Corps. — (See Troy 
Citizens' Corps.) 

City Hall, southeast corner of 
Third and State streets. " An act to 
incorporate the City-Hall Company of 
the city of Troy " was passed. May 7, 
1869, by which Joseph M. Warren, 
D. Thomas Vail, John L. Flagg, E. 
Thompson Gale, Jared S. Weed, Fran- 
cis S. Thayer, Daniel Robinson, Chas. 
W. Tillinghast, Miles Beach and their 
associates were authorized to purchase 
a site, and to erect on it a public 
building to be used as a city-hall and 
for other public purposes. The com- 
pany's capital, $200,000, was allowed 
to be increased to $300,000. The 
Troy Savings Bank was permitted to 
contribute from the surplus funds of 
the institution money to provide rooms 
in the building for banking purposes, 
and was to own the building jointly 
with the City-Hall Company, in pro- 
portion to the amount of money con- 
tributed. The project of forming the 
company was abandoned when the 
trustees of the Troy Savings Bank de- 
termined to build a banking-house on 
the northeast corner of Second and 
State streets. 

Edward Murphy, jr., mayor of the 
city, in his first message to the com- 
mon council, in 1875, advocated the 
erection of a city-hall by the city : 
" If there is any public building our 
citizens need, it is a city-hall. * * * 
Petitions, I learn, are in circulation 
among our citizens for the purchase 
of the Athenseum Building. I am 
free lo say that I am opposed to any 
such purchase. * * * I would 
therefore recommend that negotiations 
be entered into with the heirs of the 
Vanderheyden estate to have them 
relinquish their interest and rights 



58 



(if any exist) in the land located on 
the southeast corner of Third and 
State streets, for the purpose of erect- 
ing thereon a city-hall. The land 
was originally donated to the city for 
a burial-ground, but as it is now no 
longer used for that purpose, it seems 
to me to be a most eligible location 
for the erection of a suitable public 
building to be known as a city-hall." 

The common council, however, on 
April I, ordered a special committee, 
appointed March i8, to buy the Athe- 
naeum Building, on First Street, which 
the city had partly occupied for a 
number of years. It was purchasable 
at $60,000; $25,000 in cash, and 
$35,000 in city bonds. The mayor 
vetoed the resolution, April 15. 

On May 21, 1875, an act was passed 
by the legislature authorizing the city 
of Troy to purchase a suitable site in 
the city, and to erect thereon a city- 
hall for the use and purpose of the 
corporation, at an expense not ex- 
ceeding $120,000. The Third Street 
Burial Ground was selected as the site 
of the city-hall on June 8. The Van 
der Heyden heirs were paid $10,000 
to surrender their right, title and in- 
terest in the property. On July 8, 
the plan of M. F. Cummings, archi- 
tect, for the construction of the build- 
ing was adopted. The disinterment 
of the bodies in the burial ground be- 
gan on Monday, July 12, and was 
completed on August i ; the remains 
of 208 persons having been removed 
to Oakwood and other cemeteries at 
the expense of the city. The con- 
tracts for the erection of the building 
were awarded on July 23. The cor- 
ner-stone was laid by George M. Tib- 
bits on Monday, November 15. The 
building was completed and occupied 
in October, 1876. The edifice is 150 
feet long and 83 wide, built of Phila- 
delphia pressed brick, with sand-stone 
and iron trimmings. The common 
council chamber, on the second story 



and north end of the building, is 60 
feet long and 40 wide The public 
hall, on the same story, at the south 
end of the building, has a gallery, and 
will contain 1,100 people. The total 
cost of the city hall, including its site 
and furniture, was $119,761.61. The 
clock was placed in the tower, August 
1885. (See Clock, Town.) 

City Ofl3.cers. — The officers of 
the different departments of the city 
government are a mayor, two alder- 
men from each ward, a supervisor 
in each ward, twelve commissioners 
of public schools, two justices of the 
justices' court, a constable in each 
ward, all of whom are elected by bal- 
lot at the general election ; a comp- 
troller, a chamberlain, a city attorney, 
a city engineer, a city clerk, a health 
officer, two police magistrates, seven 
commissioners of the city's iunded 
debt, all of which officers are nomi- 
nated by the mayor and deemed con- 
firmed by the common council, unless 
rejected as provided by law ; a super- 
intendent of public burial grounds, 
a superintendent of public clocks, 
a sealer of weights and meas- 
ures, a pound keeper, a mayor's pri- 
vate secretary, a mayor's messenger, a 
clerk of the board of health, a city- 
hall janitor and engineer, commission- 
ers of deeds, not exceeding two for 
eveiy one thousand inhabitants in the 
city, all of which officers are appointed 
by the mayor, and are deemed con- 
firmed by the common council unless 
rejected as provided by law ; five 
water commissioners, and six fire 
commissioners, elected by the concur- 
ring vote of two thirds of the whole 
number of aldermen constituting the 
common council ; a superintendent of 
the water works, nominated by the 
water commissioners and confirmed 
by the common council ; four general 
assessors, six commissioners of chari- 
ties, and four police commissioners, 



59 



elected by the common council ; a 
city superintendent, appointed by the 
contracting board ; three city physi- 
cians, a superintendent of the poor, 
and a clerk of the board of charities, 
appointed by the board of charities; 
four inspectors of election for each 
election district, a clerk of the board 
of excise, appointed by the board of 
police commissioners ; a chief en- 
gineer of the fire department and as 
many assistant engineers as are re- 
quired, appointed by the board of fire 
commissioners. A registrar of vital 
statistics, and three sanitary inspectors 
are appointed by the board of health. 
The comptroller, the chamberlain, 
and the city engineer, cx-officio, con- 
stitute the local assessors. 

Clock, Town. — The village 
trustees called a meeting of the free- 
holders and inhabitants of Troy at 
the court. house, on December 21, 
1815, at 6 o'clock p. M., "'to take into 
consideration the expediency of pro- 
curing a town-clock for the use of the 
village." Although the trustees were 
authorized at that meeting to procure 
one, the people, at another meeting, 
held on February 8, 1816, rescinded 
that authorization. 

On November 4, 1824, a committee 
was appointed by the common council 
to determine whether or not the city 
should purchase the town-clock put in 
the tower of the Baptist Church, On 
December 7, 1824, the chamberlain 
was directed to pay $250 to Abraham 
Fellows for the clock, provided the 
trustees of the Baptist Church agreed 
to let it remain where it had been 
placed, and to wind it up free of ex- 
pense to the city. The clock was 
constructed by Stephen Hasham, of 
Charles'own, N. H. It has three 
dials, one facing the west, the others, 
the north and south. It is now in the 
tower of the present church. The 
clock cost $550. 



The city contracted with Michael 
Timpane of Troy on May 15, 1885, 
for the clock in the tower of the city- 
haH. It was made by the Howard 
Watch and Clock Company of New 
York. It cost $1,300. The clock 
began running on Friday, August 21, 
1885. The east and west dials are 8 
feet in diameter ; the north and south, 
6 feet. The dials are illuminated at 
night ; an automatic attachment turn- 
ing the gas on and off at set hours. 



Clothing. — 

Morris Gross, clothier and mer- 
chant tailor, Nos. 336 and 338 River 
Street, and Nos. 13, 15 and 17 Fourth 
Street. Ninety-eight years ago, "a 
tailor and habit-maker," named Asa 
Crossen, from New London, became 
one of the settlers at Van der Hey- 
den's Ferry, and at once advertised 
" that if elegance in fitting ladies and 
gentlemen in the newest fashion " 
we e "an inducement to them to 
honor him with their commands," he 
doubted not " from his experience to 
give general satisfaction " to all who 
patronized him. A half century la'er, 
the manufacture of ready-made cloth- 
ing began. Among those now largely 
engaged in the business and that of 
merchant tailoring in Troy, is Morris 
Gross, who on attaining his majority 
became a salesman in his father's 
clothing store, at No. 123 Con- 
gress Street. In 1868, he himself en- 
gaged in the same business at No. 119 
Congress Street. In 1871, he moved 
to No. 10 Third Street, where as a 
merchant tailor and dealer in ready 
made clothing his business became so 
large that it was necessary for him in 
1874 to extend his saleroom into No. 
12 Third Street. In 1880, needing 
the conveniences of a much larger 
building, he moved to Marble Hall, 
Nos. 336 and 338 River Street. From 
the large plate-glass windows and 



60 




^ O'sTS 




MORRIS GROSS CLOTHING HOUSE. 



doors on River Street, his spacious, 
heavily stocked, ready-made-clothing 
saleroom, 125 by 40 feet, extends to 
the Fourth Street entrances. On the 
same floor, on the Fourth Street side 
of the four-stoiy building, is the chil- 
dren's clothing department. On the 



second floor is the merchant tailoring 
department, where cloths may be se- 
lected to be made into suits from goods 
of the latest fashionable patterns dis- 
played there. On the third and 
fourth floors are the general stock 
rooms of the establishment. 



p 



61 




JULIUS SAUL'S BUILDING. 

TuLius Saul merchant tailor and first settlers of Troy was home-made. 

cloS Nos 324rnd 326 River Street. The spinning wheel and the loom were 

and Nos 23 and 25 Fourth Street, necessary pieces of furniture in theu 

The growth of all businesses has pe- new homes. The clothmg o men 

cuHafchanges marking their develop- and boys was generally cut and made 

ment S o7 the clothing of the by women. Not a few men engaged 



62 



in out-door occupations wore leather 
breeches. In the fall of 1787, one of 
the village storekeepers wrote to his 
brother, in Providence, Rhode Island : 
" Send me as many sheep-skins as you 
are a mind to. Two of them will 
make a man a pair of breeches." At 
the large clothing house of Julius Saul, 
any one can be convinced that the 
greater number of the male inhabit- 
ants of Troy buy their clothing ready- 
made. The attractive, four-story, 
brick building extends 150 feet to 
Fourth Street. The spacious sale- 
room on the first floor is stocked with 
seasonable coats, vests, and trousers 
to supply the numerous customers 
which the popularity of this well- 
known clothing house attracts. The 
custom department is on the second 
floor, where patterns may be selected 
from the stock of cloths and other 
stuffs to be made into such fashiona- 
ble styles as may be desired. In 1867, 
Julius Saul began business in Troy as 
a clothier, at No. 324 River Street. 
In 1872, he occupied the building, 
Nos. 336 and 338 River Street In 
1879, he moved to his present estab- 
lishment, Nos. 324 and 326 River 
Street, and 23 and 25 Fourth Street. 
In 1884, he opened a branch store in 
Music Hall, Albany. To obtain all 
the advantages of a prosperous cloth- 
ing manufacturing house, he removed 
his manufactory from Troy to New 
York, where he has recently estab- 
lished one of the largest manufactories 
in the metropolis. 

Clubs. — Among the clubs in the 
city noticed under their separate heads 
are : 

Americus Club. 

Bachelor Club. 

B. G. Club. 

Caledonian Club of Troy and Co- 
hoes. 

Ionic Club. 



Literary Club. 
Pafraets Dael Club. 
Rensselaer Union Club. 
Troy Bicycle Club. 
Troy Club. 

Troy Deaf-Mute Club. 
(See Boat Clubs.) 

Coal Dealers. — The principal 
wholesale and retail dealers in coal in 
the city are the following : 

Edward Bolton, Mechanic Street, 
south of Grand Division Street. 

David Judson, (A. E, Judson and 
C. T. Judson, No. 51 River Street. 

James O'Neil, Front Stret, corner 
of Ferry Street. 

Peterson & Packer, (S. A. Peter- 
son and George A. Packer,) northwest 
corner of Fulton and Mechanic streets. 

Stone & Crandell, (Charles R. 
Stone and Otis N. Crandell,) No. 389 
River Street, between Bridge Avenue 
and Jacob Street. 

John H. Tupper. northeast corner 
of River and Jacob Streets. 

J. A. Wait. Son, & Co., (Josiah A. 
Wait. L. H. Wait, and D. Ritchie,) 
No. 140 Fourth Street ; and Front 
Street, between Liberty and Division 
streets. 

John Worthington, No. 107 
River Street, between Ferry and Divi- 
sion streets. 

Tom S. Wotktns, coal dealer, 
office on the southwest corner of Ful- 
ton and Front streets. The adjoining 
conspicuous coal-pocket, sixty by one 
hundred and forty-one feet, and forty- 
five feet high, is one of the largest in 
the city. It has a storage capacity for 
about nine thousand tons of coal. 



63 



The property extends two hundred 
feet along the south side of Fulton 
Street and one hundred and fifty 
along the Hudson River As a dealer 
in coal Tom S. Wotkyns commands 
all the necessary means and conveni- 
ences for supplying his numerous cus- 
tomers with different kinds of coal, 
both in large and small quantities, at 



business at the same place until 1868, 
when he and his former partner and 
Lewis A. Rous>eau, became the firm 
of Stackpole, Wotkyns, & Co. This 
partneiship was dissolved in 1874. 
In 1875, Tom S. Wotkyns and Oscar 
E. Van Zile lecame the firm of \'an 
Zile & Wotkyns, coal-dealers, con- 
ducting the business on the southwest 







roM S. WOTKVNS'S OI-FICE AND COAL-POCKET. 



the shortest notice. George Dana 
Wotkyns, the father of Tom S. Wot- 
kyns, formed, in 1845, a partnership 
with Joseph Stackpole, under the 
name of Stackpole & Wotkyns, coal 
dealers, doing business on Front 
Street, below Ferry Street. The 
partnership was dissolved in 1867. 
George Dana Wotkyns conducted the 



corner of River and Liberty streets. 
From the time of the dissolution of 
this firm in 1S84, Tom S. Wotkyns 
has continued in the business on the 
southwest corner of Fulton and Front 
streets. Van ZiJe & Wotkyns pur- 
chased the site in 1882, when the firm 
moved from the former place of busi- 
ness on the southwest corner of River 



64 



and Liberty streets. At the begin- 
ning of the century the site of Tom 
S. Wotlcyns' office and coal-pocket 
-was a part of the space known to the 
people of Troy as the Ship-yard, 
where many of the sloops carrying 
grain from Troy were built. It was 
here that the steamboat Star, built by 
William Annesley, to ply between 
Troy and Albany, was launched on 
Tuesday, June 19, 1827, in the sight 
of a large number of people. 

Coffee and Spices. 

Burden & Co., successors to J. B. 
Anthony, wholesale dealers and man- 
ufacturers of coffee and spices ; Union 
Mills, established, 1848 ; No. 363 
River Street. 

N. Reynolds & Co., (Joseph Nel- 
son,) Olympus Coffee and Spice Mills, 
Nos. 656 and 658 River Street. Sole 
agents for F. & J. Heinz, manufac- 
turers of pickles, preserves and vin- 
egar. 

Cohoes, The City of, in Al- 
bany County, on the west side of the 
Hudson, is three miles northwest of 
Troy, and opposite the village cf Lan- 
singburgh. The site of Cohoes was 
conveyed by its Indian possessors to 
the agents of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, 
on July 27, 1630. The tract of land 
in which it[was included was described 
at that time as extending northward of 
the site of Albany to a line running 
westward through a point "a liltle 
south of Moenemines Casteel ;" a pal- 
isaded fort of the Mohawks, appar- 
ently situated on Haver Island. On 
a map of Rensselaerswyck, made 
about the year 1631, this part of the 
great estate of the Dutch patroon is 
denominated Weeltjs Dael, (Weely's 
Part.) doubtless so named in honor of 
Kiliaen Van Rensselaer's second wife, 
Anna Van Weely. The Mohawk, 



originally called the Maquas River, 
on the south bank of which the 
greater part of the city is built, flows 
into the Hudson by four branches, the 
south one of which is partly closed by | 
the dyke between the city and Green 
Island. They were thus described, in 1 
1656, by a Dutch writer : " The other 
arm of the North River [the Hudson] 1 
runs by four sprouts * * * to 
the great falls of the Maquas Kill, 
called by the Indians the Chahoos, 
and by our nation the Great Fall." j 
At that time, one or two Du'ch farm- 
ers had settled in this part of Rensse- 
laerswyck. In 1767, the farm-houses 
of Hendrik Lansing, Cornells Ouder- 
kerke, Diederik Hemstraet, Hans Lan-ii'f 
sing, Douw Fonda, and Frans Lan- 
sing were within the present limits of 
the city. ^ The first bridge spanning 
the Mohawk River at the site of Co- 
hoes was built in 1795. It extended 
from where Mohawk and Remsen 
streets intersect to the excavated road 
leading to it on the opposite bank of 
the river, a short distance west of ihe 
north end of the railroad bridge. 
Along the river-road to Albany, imme- ; 
diately south of the bridge, there j 
were, in 181 1, a few houses, the local- 
ity of which bore the name of Cohoes- , 
ville. That year, the Cohoes Manu- I 
facturing Company was incorporated j 
" for the purpose of manufacturing \ 
cotton, woolen and linen goods,; 
making bar-iron, anchors, mill-irons, I 
nail-rods, hoop-iron and iron mon-i 
gery." About sixty acres of the Heam*i 1 
street farm, east of Mohawk Street, 
and the island subsequently known as j 
Simmons' Island, opposite the farm, I 
were purchased by the company. 1 
Shortly afterward a building was 
erected on the west bank of the south 
branch of the Mohawk River, oppo- i 
site the north end of the island. In 
this building the company began man- 
ufacturing screws by machinery, in- 
vented by William C. Fenniman. In 



05 



constructing the Cliamplain and Erie 
canals, between the years iSi6 and 
1825, two locks were built at their 
junction, near where now is the bridge 
over the Champlain Canal, west of 
the dyke across the south branch of 
the Mohawk River, buili for the track 
of the Troy & Cohoes street radway. 
At that time the Erie Canal extended 
along the present line of Main Street, 
and thence northward along the pres- 
ent levels of the Cohoes Company's 
canals to the north end of Harmony 
Mill No. I. The Cohoes Company 
was organized in 1826 (See Cohoes 
Company.) The place became a post 
village in T832. In 1836, the village 
was desciibed as containing " one fac- 
tory for cotton and woolen machinery, 
one for edge tools, one for cotton, 
linen and woolen hosiery, made on 
newly invented looms, a mill driving 
turning lathes, an iron foundry, a car- 
pet factory, an Episcopal church, 2 
hotels, 3 stores, many shops of various 
kinds on the canals, and 60 dwellings." 
That year the Harmony Cotton Man- 
ufacturing Company was incorporated. 
(See Harmony Mills.) In 1837, 
the work of changing the course of 
the Erie Canal tiiroiigh the village 
was begun. In 1843, it was com- 
pleted. The part extending along the 
present line of Main Street was tilled 
in, and became the thoroughfare 
known as Canal Street, afterward 
called Main Street. The Cohoes Aif- 
vertiser, a weekly, was the first news 
paper printed in the village. It was 
published by Ayers & Co.. and had its 
first issue on February 9, 1847. Some 
years after the construction of the 
Schenectady and Troy Railroad 
through Cohoes, a car was attnched 
to westward trains, and on their ar- 
rival at the village it was left at that 
station. Passengers were conveyed to 
■ Troy in it, without the use of an en- 
gine, by permitting it to descend the 
grade to the Rensselaer and Saratoga 



Railroad bridge at Green Island, 
whence the car was drawn by horses 
to the terminus of the road in Troy. 
The village of Cohoes was incorpor- 
ated, June 5, 1848. The Albany 
Northern Railroad was formally 
opened to it. April 11, 1853. The 
Cohoes Gas Light Company, incor- 
porated September 13, 1852, began, 
in July, 1853, supplying consumers 
with gas. On October 10, 1863, cars 
began running on the Troy and 
Cohoes Horse Railroad to the village. 
Cohoes became a city by the act of 
incorporation of May, 19, 1869. The 
first charter election was held, April 
12, 1S70, when Charles H. Adams 
was elected mayor. The first daily 
paper published in the city. The Dailv 
News, was issued, September 22, 

1873 

The Bank of Cohoes, established 
March 10, 1859. began business June 
2, that year. The National Bank of 
Cohoes succeeded to its business. May 
25, 1865. Its capital of $100,000 was 
increased in August, 1872. to $250,- 
000. On the death of Egbert Eg- 
berts, its first president, Charles H. 
Adams was elected to the office, May 
22, 1869, to which he has since been 
elected annually. The Manufacturers' 
Bank of Cohoes, organized March 21, 
1872, with a capital of $100,000, 
began business July 10, that year. 
On July I, 1874, its capital was in- 
creased to $150,000. William E. 
Thorn, its first president, was suc- 
ceeded on January 19, 1882, by John 
V. S. Lansing, who since then has 
filled that position. 

There are nine churches in the city : 
one Baptist, one Episcopal, two Meth- 
odist, one Presbyterian, one Reformed, 
and three Roman Catholic. The 
newspapers published in the city are 
the Cohoes Daily Nezvs, hy W. K. 
Mansfield ; the Evening Dispatch, by 
T. & M. Wallace, and the Cohoes Reg- 
ulator, by Alexis Wager. The fire de- 



parlment's apparatus includes three 
steam fire engines, three hose car- 
riages, and one hook and ladder truck. 

The appointments to the office of 
postmaster have been Frederick Y. 
Waterman, February 23, 1832 ; Hez- 
ekiah Howe, July 13, 1833; Peter F. 
Daw, July 28, 1854; George H. 
Wager, June 7, 1855; Izrakiah W. 
Chesebro, August 7, i86i ; James H. 
Masten, June 16, I865 ; October 20, 
1867; January 27, 1873; February 8, 
1877; February 18, 1881 ; and Feb- 
ruary 17, 1885. 

The picturesque features of the 
great falls of the Mohawk River, at 
Cohoes, have frequently been de- 
scribed in prose and poetry. The cat- 
aract has a width of about 1,100 feet, 
and a height of 80 feet. The Sche- 
nectady and Troy, and the Rensselaer 
and Saratoga railroads have stations 
in the city. Three lines of street cars 
running from Tioy, severally by the 
way of Green Island, Lansingburgh 
and Waterford, have a common termi- 
nus in Cohoes, near the interseciion 
of Mohawk and Remsen streets. 
Simmons and Van Schaick islands are 
within the city limits, and are con- 
nected by iron bridges. 

The city of Cohoes is a noted seat 
of manufacture. About fifty mills, 
factories, and foundries utilize the 
water-power furnished by the Cohoes 
Company. About 8,000 persons are 
employed in the different establish- 
ments. Besides the six Harmony 
mills, and the twenty-seven knitting 
mills, the Cohoes Rolling Mills of 
Morrison, Colwell, & Page, the works 
of the Cohoes Iron Foundry and Ma- 
chine Company, the wi-ought iron-pipe 
manufactory of Curtis & Co., the axe 
factories of A. G. Peck & Co., and of 
the Weed and Becker Manufacturing 
Company, the knitting machine man- 
ufactory of Campbell & Clute, and the 
decorative wood establishment of J. & 



G. Fischer contribute considerable im- 
portance to the city. 

Population: 1830, 150; 1835, 750; 
1840, 1,850 ; 1845, 2,029 ; 1850, 4,229 ; 
1855, 6,106; i860, 8,800; 1865, 8,795; 
1870, 15,373 ; 1875, 17,482 ; 1880, 
19.417- 

The Cohoes Company, incorpo- 
rated, March 28, 1826, capital $250,- 
000, increased April 26, 1833, to 
$500,000, was privileged to erect and 
maintain a dam across the Mohawk 
River, above the falls, and to con- 
struct canals supplying water from the 
dam to manufactories on the lands of 
the corporation. The property, in 
part, consisted of several tracis of land 
bordering each side of the river from 
points above the falls to others east of 
the bridge across the Mohawk. In 
1831, the company built a wooden 
dam a half mile above the falls, and 
obtained permission to use the Erie 
Canal to conduct water to factories 
until the construction of a channel 
had been completed by the corpora- 
tion. In 1833, the company began 
constructing a canal from the dam and 
extending southward along the east 
side of the Erie Canal to a point near 
and south of the falls. There by two 
wooden trunks, beneath the Erie 
Canal, it was connected with a second 
channel running southward along the 
west side of the Erie Canal to a point 
near the north end of the old Har- 
mony Mill. There by wooden trunks 
under the Erie Canal, the second 
channel was connected with Basin A, 
on the east side of the canal The 
company's first canal, about two miles 
long with a fall of 18 feet, was com- | 
pleted in 1834. The office of the 
company, a small brick building, oc- 
cupied the site of the north mill of 
the Root Manufacturing Company, on 
the east side of Mohawk Street, near 
its intersection with Remsen Street. 
In 1836, the water-power of the com- 
pany was described as having a head 



and fall of 120 feet, "permitting the 
use of the water under six successive 
falls of from 18 to 23 feet above the 
level of the state dam, below which it 
may be used under a head of 11 feet, 
and may be carried on these levels to 
almost any point on the company's es- 
tate." On the completion of the en- 
larged Erie Canal, in 1843, the greater 
part of the old section, from the north 
end of Main Street to the north end 
of the Old Harmony Mill, was con- 
veyed by the state to the company, 
which enabled it to conduct water 
from its dam southward to the north 
end of Canal Street, as Main Street 
was then called. In the fall of 1865, 
tlie company completed the construc- 
tion of its present stone dam, 1,443 
feet long, built immediately in front 
of the site of the reconstructed one of 
1832. The total length of the com- 
pany's canals is about three miles. 
The available water power furnished 
by them is about equal to 10,000 horse- 
power ; two-thirds of which is now 
utilized. The company supplies water- 
power, and also leases an adequate 
quantity of land on which to erect 
buildings at an annual rental of about 
twenty dollars a horse-power. The 
company's offices are in the two story 
brick building, on the east side of 
Mohawk Street, north of Remsen 
Street. The officers of the company 
are Charles C. Birdseye, president ; 
William E. Thorn, treasurer; and 
David H. Van Auken, secretary. 

The Harmony Mills, incorpo- 
rated, June 17, 1852, to manufacture 
cotton-goods, succeeded the Harmony 
Cotton Manufacturing Company, in- 
corporated. May 24, 1836, which was 
thus designated in honor of Peter 
Harmony, a wealthy Spaniard, one of 
its incorporators. 'The Harmony Cot- 
ton Manufacturing Company's capital 
stock of $100,000 was increased, June 
17, 1863, to $750,000. In 1S37, the 
company began the erection of a four- 



story, brick, cotton-mill, 50 by 1G5 
feet, still standing at the south end of 
" Mill No. I," on the west side of 
Mohawk Street. The company's 
property was purchased, in 1851, by 
Thomas Garner of New York and 
Alfred Wild of Valatie, who made 
Robert Johnston superintendent of 
the mill, which was improved and its 
spindles increased to 8,000. In 1852, 
the proprietors assumed the name of 
The Harmony Mills. The present 
mills are six in number, most of them 
large structures, furnished with im- 
proved machinery and all the conve- 
niences for the production of cotton- 
cloth. There are 275,000 spindles 
and 6,200 looms in them. About 
1,800 girls and women, and 1,400 
boys and men are employed in the 
different mills ; the yearly product of 
which is more than eighty million 
yards, or about forty-five thousand 
miles of goods, in the manufacture of 
which about thirty thousand bales of 
cotton are consumed. The company 
owns about seven to eight hundred 
tenements, mostly constructed of 
brick, at a close remove from the 
mills. 

In excavating, in 1866, for the foun- 
dations of " Mill No. 3," a five story, 
brick structure, 1,185 feet long and 73 
wide, the bones of a mastodon were 
found deeply imbedded in an accumu- 
lation of peat. The skeleton is in 
the Museum of Natural History, 
Albany. 

The officers of the Harmony Mills 
are John I. Lawrence, president ; 
William E. Thorn, agent and treas- 
urer ; Robert Johnston, general man- 
ager ; David J. Johnston, superintend- 
ent ; and William S. Smith, pay- 
master. 

The Knitting Mills of Cohoes, 
twenty seven in number, annually 
manufacture women and men's woolen 
shirts and drawers valued at about 
$10,000,000. About 240 sets of cards 



68 



and 600 knitting cylinders are in use 
in the mills, in which 4,000 operatives, 
mostly girls and women, are em- 
ployed, who earn annually about 
$1,200,000. 

Egbert Egberts, Joshua and Tim- 
othy Bailey, having formed a partner- 
ship, in 1S32, were the first persons to 
engage in the knitting business in Co- 
hoes. That year, they leased the 
lower s'.ory of the Miller Cotton-Mill, 
on Erie Stree', now occupied by New- 
man & Adams. Timothy Bailey im- 
proved a machine to knit a width of 
cloth, sufficient for two shirts, making 
thirty chains of loops across the fab- 
ric in a minute. To retain the exclu- 
sive use of the machine, known as 
the jack and sinker frame, it is said 
that the firm locked the doors of its 
knitting room and permitted no one 
to enter it unless he first gave an assur- 
ance of secrecy respecting the opera- 
tion of the novel invention. The up- 
right, rotary, knitting machines were 
introduced in the mills about the year 
1857. 

The Tivoli Mills of the Root 
Manufacturing Company, on the east 
side of Mohawk Street, north of 
Courtland Street, are two, large, four 
story, brick buildings, with basements; 
one, 67 by 150 feet, the other, 55 by 
125 feet. Josiah G. Root, who with 
L. S. Parsons formed the partnership 
of J. G. Root & Co., in 1855, pur- 
chased the knitting mill of Thomas 
Fowler, and called it the Tiv- 
oli Hosiery Mill. Josiah G. Root, in 
1859, on the dissolution of the part- 
nership, built the mill, burned April 
2, 1874, standing on the site of the 
present establishment. The firm of 
J. G. Root & Sons, by the admission 
of Andrew J. and S. G. Root, was 
formed in 1859, which, on the retire- 
ment of Josiah G. Root, in i86g, was 
succeeded by that of J, G. Root's 
Sons. The ofticers of the Root Man- 
ufacturing Company, incorporated. 



January i, 1875, are Andrew J. Root, 
president and treasurer, and Robert 
McHafie, secretary. About 500 op- 
eratives are employed in the mills, 
in which are 18 sets of cards and 72 
knitting cylinders. 

The Parsons Manufacturing 
Company's knitting mills are on the 
west side of Remsen Street, immedi- 
ately north of Factory Street. One, 
the Watervliei Mill, built, in 1850, by 
Egberts & Bailey, is a four-story, brick 
structure, 50 by 150 feet; the other, 
erected shortly afterward, is also a 
four story, brick building, and is on 
the north side of the former. In 
1855, L. S. Parsons and Josiah G. 
Root formed the firm of J. G. Root& 
Co., which, in 1859, was dissolved. 
L. S. Parsons and J. H. Parsons 
continued the business in the Fowler 
Mill, on Erie Street, early known as 
the Miller Cotton-Mill. On the death 
of L. S. Parsons, April 27, 18(54, the 
firm of J. H. Parsons & Co. succeeded 
to the business ; Mrs. L. S. Parsons 
representing an interest. In 1867, 
the firm occupied the Watervliet Mill. 
In 1884, the Parsons Manufacturing 
Company was organized, of which, at 
present, J. H. Parsons is president, 
Charles H. Disbrow, secretary, and 
T. W. Pease, superintendent. About 
400 operatives are employed in the 
mills, in which are 15 sets of cards 
and 46 knitting cylinders. 

The American Hosiery Mill of 
Jonathan Hiller, on the east side of 
Mohawk Street, at its intersection 
with Remsen St^ee^ was erected by 
Smith, Gregory, & Co., in 1857. It 
is a four-story brick structure, 46 by 
100 feet. The first firm was succeeded 
in 1870 by that of Gregorys & Hiller; 
Alexander, and William M. Gregory, 
and Jonathan Hiller. On the death of j j 
Alexander Gregory, in 1875, the firm 
of Gregory & Hiller succeeded to the 
business. On January i, 1884, Jon- 
athan Hiller became proprietor of the 



69 



mill, which now contains 6 sets of 
cards and 21 knitting cylinders, and 
gives employment to about 85 opera- 
atives, making men and women's 
white and mixed colored goods. 

The Ontario Mill, of which Rob- 
ert Weir is manager, on the north- 
east corner of Remsen and Ontario 
stretts, erected by Samuel N. Bald- 
win, in 1846, was purchased, in 1862, 
by Chad wick & Wai hurst, (Joseph 
Chadwick and George Warhursl), who 
began manufacturing knit goods in it 
that year. On the withdrawal of 
George Warhurst, in 1867, William 
N. Chadwick purchased his interest, 
and the firm of Chadwick & Co. was 
formed. Afterward , P. Remsen Chad- 
wick was admiited a partner. The 
Ontario Knitting Company was or- 
ganized in July, 1885. The mill con- 
tains 6 sets of cards and 17 knitting 
cylinders. About 100 operatives are 
employed in it. 

The Troy Manufacturing Com- 
pany, of which David Cowee is presi- 
dent, John V. S. Lansing, treasurer, 
and James L. Thompson, secretary, 
was organized February g, 1863. The 
company purchased that year the 
knitting mill, on the south side of 
Ontario Street, between Remsen and 
Olmsted streets, built by Egberts & 
Bailey, in 1836, owned by the Bailey 
Manufacturing Company, formed in 
1852. The main building, a four- 
story, brick structure, fronting on 
Ontario Street, is 50 by 122 feet. It 
is connected with three other build- 
ings, one 41 by 90, another 35 by 60, 
and another 23 by 55 feet. In the 
different buildings are 11 sets of casdr 
and 30 knitting cylinders. Number 
of operatives, 260. 

The Star Knitting Company, 
organized in 1866, in August, that 
year, pui chased for ^27,000 the Hurst 
mill-property, on the west side of 
Mohawk Street, between Remsen and 



Erie streets. On August 17, 1S63, 
the former mill occupying the site 
was destroyed by fire. Three women 
were burned, and twenty other oper- 
atives seriously injured in attempting 
to escape from the building. The 
company's first officers, citizens of 
Troy, were : Thomas Coleman, presi- 
dent ; Richardson H. Thurman, sec- 
retary and treasurer ; Lyman Bennett, 
Otis G. Clark, Harvey Smith, Thomas 
Coleman, and Richardson H. Thur- 
man, trustees. In 1870, the American 
Institute, New York, awarded the 
company a medal for the display of 
the best merino shirts and drawers on 
exhibition there that year. A medal 
and a diploma were given the com- 
pany for uniform texture and finish of 
of the fine wool and merino under- 
wear exhibited at the Centennial Ex- 
hibition at Philadelphia in 1876. The 
main knitting mill is a four-story, 
brick structure, 104 by 65 feet, with a 
wing at each end of the building ; one, 
four stories high, 54 by 40 feet, the 
other, one story high, 15 by 34 feet. 
The company employs about 150 
operatives, and manufactures women 
and men's fine white merino shirts 
and drawers, the quality and finish of 
which have given wide fame in the 
United States to the goods. The 
present officers of the company are : 
Thomas Coleman, president ; Rich- 
ardson H. Thurman, secretary and 
treasurer, and Otis G. Clark, agent. 
The oflice of the company is room 5, 
on the second floor of the Keenan 
Building, on the northwest corner of 
Broadway and Third Street, Troy. 

The Ranken Knitting Comi'anv, 
of which William J. Ranken is presi- 
dent, Henry S, Ranken, secretary 
and treasurer, and Robert B. Ranken, 
superintendent, was incorporated Jan- 
uary 16, 1867, and that year occupied 
the Halcyon Mills on Erie Street, 
north of Factory Street, a four-story, 
brick building, 100 by 200 feet, 



70 



erected in 1857 by William Burton, 
but in recent years enlarged to its 
present dimensions. The company 
employs about 400 operatives and 
uses 21 sets of cards and 56 knitting 
cylinders. The company's New York 
salerooms are at Nos. 107 and 109 
Franklin Street. 

HORROCKS & Van Benthuysen's 
Atlantic Mill, on the west side of Rem- 
sen Street, between Factory and Mo- 
hawk streets, is a four-story, brick 
building, 53 by 1 16 feet, and contains 
8 sets of cards and 30 knitting cylin- 
ders. About 175 operatives are em- 
ployed by the firm. In 1867, George 
Warhurst purchased the Atlantic Mill, 
on the east side of Mohawk Street, 
south of Courtland Street, erected by 
Alden & Frink, in 1856. Continuing 
in the knitting business in it until 
1872, George Warhurst formed with 
John Horrocks the firm of George 
Warhurst & Co , which, in 1876, was 
succeeded by that of Thompson & 
Horrocks. John Horrocks and M. 
W. Van Benthuysen formed the pres- 
ent partnership in 1878. The firm 
manufactures women's white woolen 
goods. Its new mill was erected in 
1886. 

The Enterprise Mill of John 
Scott & Son, a four-story, brick build- 
ing, 70 by go feet, on the north side 
of Courtland Street, between Mohawk 
and Canvass streets, was erected by 
the senior member of the firm in 1873, 
immediately alter the burning of the 
Stark Knitting Mill, February i, 1873, 
in which he and Joseph Stewart, as 
Scott & Stewart, engaged in the knit- 
ting business in 1869. The firm man- 
ufactures men and women's white 
woolen goods, employing about 200 
operatives and using 11 sets of cards 
and 31 knitting cylinders. The firm 
of John Scott & Son (John Scott, jr.,) 
was formed in January, 1883. 

The Kensington Mill of Root 
& Waterman, erected in 1881-82, is a 



four-story, brick building, 55 by 100, 
on the north side of Oneida Street.i 
between Van Rensselaer and Saratoga • 
streets. It contains 7 sets of cards 
and 26 knitting cylinders. About 150 
operatives are employed in it. The 
firm manufactures men and women's 
white and colored knit-goods. Sam- 
uel G. Root and George Waterman 
formed the partnership. May i, 1882. 

The Standard Woolen Mill, 
in which Newman & Adams manufac- 
ture men and women's fine wool, scar-' 
let goods, pure cochineal dyed, was 
erected, in 1855, by Egbert Egberts. 
It is a three-story, brick building, 55 
by 100 feet, on the west side of Rera- 
sen Street, between Factory and Mo- 
hawk streets, and contains 6 sets ofd 
cards and 16 knitting cylinders, andd 
furnishes employment to about 150' 
operatives. On Erie Street is thei 
firm's storehouse, 45 by 85 feet.i 
originally known as the Miller Cotton-i 
Mill. John L. Newman and William 
P. Adams formed the firm. May 1,1 
1881. 

Neil & McDowell, successors to 
Wilcox & McDowell, occupy the four- 
story, brick knitting mill, 50 by looi 
feet, on the north side of Ontario 1 
Street, west of Remsen Street, built 
by Charles H. Adams, in 1863. The 
firm manufactures men and women 
fine, white, knit underwear, and em 
ploys about 150 operatives, and has in 
use 6 sets of cards and 28 knitting 
cylinders. John Wakeman succeeded 
Charles H. Adams in the business, 
Januaiy, 1870, and Wilcox & McDow- 
ell the former, in 1882. George Neil i| 
and George H. McDowell, their sue* 
cessors, formed the present firm, Jan- 
uary I, 1884. 

The Cohoes Rolling Mills, 
Morrison, Colwell, & Page, on the 
north side of Courtland Street, be- 
tween Mohawk and Canvass streets, 
cover a plat of ground, which, sincfti 
1854, has been occupied by building^i 



ne 
i's< 

n-,f 



71 



in wliich merchant iron and steel have 
been manufactured. That year, Jonas 
Simmons erected there a rolling mill, 
which had no local importance until 
1S62, when Edward N. Page, from 
South Staffordshire, England, became 
associated with him, in the firm of 

I Simmons & Page. In March, 1864, 
James Morrison and Thomas Colwell, 
both of Troy, purchased Jonas Sim- 
mons' interest, and with Edward N. 
Page, formed the partnership of Mor- 
rison, Colwell, & Page. Shortly after- 
ward the firm erected other buildings, 
and by the use of improved machin- 
ery, acquired no little distinction 
throughout the United States in mak- 
ing edge-tool iron superior to the best 
Norway iron. On January 5, 1883, 
all the buildings were destroyed by 
fire. The firm at once began the 
erection of new buildings, which were 
completed at the beginning of April, 
that year. These iron buildings were 
constructed of the material of a part 
of the Main Centennial Building at 

' Philadelphia, in 1876. The finishing 
building, 180 by 180 feet, the pud- 
dling building, 85 by 280 feet, with a 
wing 85 by 85 feet, and several other 
structures comprise the establishment. 
The firm's offices are in the two-story, 
brick building, on the southeast cor- 
ner of Courtland and Canvass streets. 
The Troy office is on the second floor 
of the 13urdett Building, No. 253 
River Street. The productions of the 
Cohocs Rolling Mills embrace all 
kinds of merchant iron, but chiefly 
iron for edge-tools, and for steam, gas 
and water pipe, and boiler tubes. 
About 400 men aie employed by the 
firm. 

Campbell & Clute, at No. 47 Mo- 
hawk Stieet, opposite the Harmony 
Hotel, manufacture double, rotary, 
knitting machines, four-cylinder sleeve 
machines, flat rib knitting machines, 
Campbell patent winders, seaming 
machines, knitting burrs, Brothers' 



self-operator for jacks, shafting and 
mill machinery, George Campbell, 
the senior member of the firm, pre- 
viously of the firm of Gage, Campbell, 
& Gage, machinists, Waterford, became 
associated as a partner with John 
Clute, January i, 1863 They leased 
the two-story, wooden building, then 
standing on the site of their present 
establishment; the former having been 
occupied by Jeremiah Clute, bedstead 
manufacturer. In 1S73, the firm erect- 
ed the four-story, brick building, 80 
by 100 feet, in which is the office 
and different workrooms of the estab- 
lishment. A large force of experi- 
enced workmen are employed in it in 
manufacturing the popular, double, 
circular knitting machines used so 
generally in knitting mills in the 
United States. 

A. G. Peck & Co.'s a.\e factory, on 
the northwest corner of Courtland 
and Saratoga streets, is a large build- 
ing, in which 125 workmen are em- 
ployed in making Peck's Champion 
Blade axes and edge tools, for which 
the firm has an extensive sale in the 
United States, South America, Aus- 
tralia, Russia, Germany, and other 
countries. Their superior quality and 
the perfection of their temper make 
the axes, adzes, hatchets, picks, mat- 
tocks, and hoes of the firm merit the 
higli reputation which they sustain 
wherever they are used. Daniel Sim- 
mons originated the manufacture of 
axes in Cohoes in 1834. In i860, the 
firm of W. J, Ten Eyck & Co. en- 
gaged in the business in the factory of 
Jonas Simmons, on Courtland Street, 
near the rolling mill. In 1866, the 
Ten Eyck Manufacturing Company 
succeeded it, followed, in 1873, by 
Williams, Ryan, & Jones. On July 
I 1874, Martin H. Jones and Alfred 
G. Peck formed the firm of M. H. 
Jones & Co., which in May, 1879, 
was succeeded by that of A. G. Peck 
&Co. 



TZ 



CoHOEs Iron Foundry and Ma- 
chine Company, and the Empire 
Portal)le T"orge Company, Warren T. 
Kellogfj, manaf:;er, manufacture at 
their works on Van Rensselaer Street, 
north of Courtland Street, Empire 
portable forges, hand blowers, tuyere 
irons, mill and warehouse elevators, 
cylinder, hot air, and improved pipe 
slashers, tape dressing machines, 
Leigh's anti-friction loose boss top rol- 
lers, Snow's standard water wheel gov- 
ernors, the American watchman's 
electric clocks, cloth folders, Ballard's 
patent yard beam trucks, caloric en- 
gines, cotion and jute dressing ma- 
chines, castings, and general ma- 
chinery used in cotton, woolen, and 
paper mills. Most of the buildings 
of the large establishment were 
erected by W. T. Horribin, in iS6g, 
and purchased by the Cohoes Iron 
Foundry and Machine Company, 
formed, December 3, 1877. About 
150 workmen are employed in the es- 
tablishment, which has the distinction 
of manufacturing the largest number 
of portable forges made in the United 
States. 

Curtis & Co., north side of Court- 
land Street, between Mohawk and 
Canvass streets, are largely engaged 
in manufacturing wrought-iron pipe. 
This establishment comprises a num- 
ber of buildings, the most spacious of 
which is 175 by 200 feet. Besides 
making gas, steam, and water pipe of 
all sizes, the firm deals in gas, steam 
and water-pipe fittings and valves. 
About 150 men are emplyed in the 
works, which have a capacity of pio- 
ducing daily forty tons of pipe. The 
firm is the only one in the United 
States, east and norih of Philadelphia, 
engaged in this branch of manufac- 
ture. The business was projected, in 
Cohoes, by the Empire Tube Com- 
pany, in 1872, which erected the build- 
ing now occupied by A. G. Peek & 
Co. Albert Smith and James M. 



Moreland began the manufacture of , 
pipe in it, and were succeeded. May 
I, 1874, by the firm of Albert Smith 
& Co., (A G. Curtis). The piesent 
establishment was built in 1876. In 
t88o, James Morrison bought Albert 
Smith's interest, and with A. G. Curtis 
formed the firm of A G. Curtis & Co. 
On the death of A. G. Curtis, Janu- 
ary 25, 1883, his widow, Mary M. 
Curtis, retained his inteiest. Pleniy 
Aird then became a partner ; the firm 
name being changed to that of 
Curtis & Co. 

J. & G. Fischer, decorative wood 
workers, manufacturing in the large 
brick building at the foot of Remsen 
Street, near its intersection with Mo- 
hawk Street, have exceptional facili- 
ties for designing and making indif- 
ferent woods mantels, wainscoting, 
ceilings, chimney pieces, book shelvC'j, 
sideboards, dining tables, cabinets, 
stairways, ecclesiastical and library, 
furniture, drug, hat and fur-store fix- jj 
tures, bank, office, hotel, and saloon 
appointments. Hard wood interiors, 
art furniture, parquet floors, and elab- 
orated mouldings are executed by liie 
firm in all the classic and moilcrn ' 
styles. Only the choicest mahogany, 
cherry, walnut, ash, white, oak, and 
other woods are used by the firm; all of 
which aie carefully selected and dried. 
The firm was formed February I, 
i88x, since which time it has oucu- 
pied the building at the foot of Rem- 
sen Street. 

Cohoes Rowing Cluk, has its 
boat-house on the Hudson River, near 
the Lan^ingburgh and Cohoes Bridge. . 
The club rooms are in the North 
Building, on the east side of Mohawk 
Street, opposite the Harmony Hotel. 

Coldest Day, The, in Troy, \ 

was experienced on Sunday, January 
4, 1835. At sunrise, that day, an ac- 
curate theimometer, hanging at the . 



78 



southeast corner of Albany (Broad- 
way) and River streets, indicated 32 
degrees below zero. Another tlier- 
monieter, hanging on Second Street, 
indicated 31 degrees below zero, 
and other thermometers in different 
parts of the city varied from 27 
degrees to 31 degrees below zero, 
according to situation. As indi- 
cated by one thermometer, the 
changes of temperature in the city 
during the space of forty-eight hours 
were as follows : On Saturday, Jan- 
uary 3, at sunrise, 4 degrees below 
zero ; on Sunday following, at sun- 
rise, 28 degrees below ; at 9 A. M., 23 
degrees below ; at 12 noon, 10 de- 
grees below ; at sunset, 6 degrees be- 
low ; at 8 p. M., 12 degrees below; 
and on Monday, at sunrise, 10 degrees 
below. 

Cold Summer of 1816.— The 

remarkable season was long remember- 
ed by the people then living in Troy. 
Many had had their fears excited by 
the prediction of the enthusiastic 
spiriiualist, Benjamin Gorton, for a 
long time a prominent merchant in 
the village, but then a resident of the 
town of Brunswick. From his inter- 
pretation of the figurative language of 
Daniel and other prophets, he was 
convinced that on the eighth day of 
June, 1816, the earth would be de- 
stroyed by fire. He and his followers 
were therefore greatly derided when 
the day for the fulfillment of his pre- 
diction came the weather was ex- 
tremely cold, ice covered the brooks, 
and snow fell. Vegetation of all kinds 
was killed by the frosts and little fruit 
was gathered in the fall. As described 
by a Connecticut newspaper: "It 
was known as ' the year without a 
summer.' The farmers used to refer to 
it as ' eigliteen hundred and starve to 
death.' January was mild, as was 
also Febiuary, with the exception of a 
tew days. The greater part of March 
was cold and boisterous. April 



opened warm, but grew colder as it 
advanced, ending with snow and ice, 
and winter cold. In May, ice formed 
half an inch thick, buds and flowers 
were frozen, and corn killed. Frost, 
ice and snow were common in June. 
Almost every green thing was killed, 
and the fruit was nearly all destroyed. 
Snow fell to the depth of nearly three 
inches in New York and Massachu- 
setts, and ten inches in Maine. July 
was accompanied by frost and ice. 
On the 5th ice was formed of the 
thickness of window glass in New 
York, New England, and Pennsyl- 
vania, and corn was nearly all de- 
stroyed in certain sections. In August 
ice formed half an inch thick. A 
cold northern wind prevailed nearly 
all summer. 

"Corn was so frozen that a great 
deal was cut down and dried for fod- 
der. Very little ripened in New Eng- 
land, even here in Connecticut, and 
even in the Middle States. Farmers 
were obliged to pay $4 or $5 a 
bushel for corn of 18 15, for seed for 
the next year's planting. The first 
two weeks of September were mild, 
the rest of the month was cold, with 
frost, and ice formed a quarter of an 
inch thick. October was more than 
usually cold, with frost and ice. No- 
vember was cold and blustering, with 
snow enough for good sleighing. De- 
cember was quite mild and comforta- 
ble." 

Collar and Cuff Manufacto- 
ries. — Fifty-seven years ago, Troy's 
leading industry had its beginning in 
a small undertaking of a dry-goods 
merchant. So insignificant was it in 
l.s incipiency that no public mention 
was made of its local benefits for a dec- 
ade of years after its origination. 
Even then that progressive and ob- 
servant man, Professor Amos Eaton, 
of the Rensselaer Institute, endeav- 
ored to induce Jefferson Gardner to 



74 



engage in a more remunerative busi- 
ness, although the latter, governed by 
his own conception of its profitable- 
ness, disregarded his friend's advice, 
and afterward acquired a competency 
from the disparaged vocation. The 
enterprise of its projector only afforded 
occasional employment to a few women 
who singly made not more than a 
dozen collars during the ordinary 
working hours of a day. They sev- 
erally received three shillings worth 
of dry goods for making and launder- 
ing that number of collars. Now not 
less than seven thousand girls and 
women, aided by adapted machinery, 
earn annually more than a million 
and a quarter dollars by doing 
the work required of them in the 
manufacture of about four million 
dozens of collars and cuffs. 

In 1829, Ebenezer Brown, having 
retired from the Methodist ministry in 
consequence of certain physical disa- 
bilities, opened a small dry-goods 
store at No. 285 River Street, not far 
south of the site of Fulton Market. 
" Although a boy at the time," in the 
words of "an old citizen to the author, 
" I well remember how angry my 
father was with my sisters for bringing 
home from Ebenezer Brown's store a 
basket of collars, on the top of which 
lay a card on which was the agree- 
ment : ' In pay you buy my goods at 
my prices.' ' Ebenezer Brown,' said 
my father, ' can conduct his business 
to suit himself and have those who 
make collars for him take his goods 
in pay at his prices, but I think you 
have been extremely foolish to enter 
into any such bargain.' My sisters, 
however, made the collars, and, as it 
was then the custom, washed, starched, 
and ironed them, and received their 
pay in goods." 

The collars made at that time were 
commonly called "string-collars." 
because they were tied around the 
neck of the wearer with tape-strings. 



Made of two thicknesses of linen, and 
slightly stiffened with starch, these 
standing collars were supported by 
hair-cloth stocks buckled at the back 
of the neck of the wearer. The 
string-collars were sold at two dol- 
lars a dozen, or singly at twenty-five 
cents. The "Byron "and "Bishop" 
collars succeeded them in popular 
favor. 

The first persons in Troy to under- 
take the manufacture of linen collars 
and shirt bosoms as a special business 
were Orlando Montague and Austin 
Granger, composing the firm of Mon- 
tague & Granger. Beginning busi- 
ness in 1S34, they occupied a part of 
the building, No. 222 River Street, 
then standing on the site of the Hall 
Building. The following year intro- 
duced Independence Starks to the 
people of Troy as a stock and collar- 
maker. Some years later he added a 
laundry to his factory at No. 66 North 
Second Street, and laundered there 
not only his own goods but those of 
other manufacturers. 

Linsn bosoms, frequently called 
dickeys or shams, were then mostly 
worn separate from shirts. These 
false or detached bosoms were tied 
with tape-strings over the fronts of 
shirts, and were frilled, plaited, or 
plain, as suited the wearer. 

Lyman Bennett was also among the 
number of manufacturers of linen col- 
lars who engaged in the business in 
1834. In 1838, he occupied a part of 
the building. No. 308 River Street, 
where he conducted his business until 
1853, when he, with M. W. Hicks 
and O. W. Edson, formed the part- 
nership of Bennett, Hicks, & Edson, 
linen manufacturers, at No. 344 River 
Street. Wood Babcock engaged in 
the business in 1838, at No. 300 River 
Street, and in the following year be- 
came aissociated with John W. White, 
in the firm of Babcock & White, col- 
lar manufacturers, at No. 345 River 



75 



Street. In 1840, Jefferson Gardner 
purchased the interest of Wood Bab- 
cock, and became a partner of John 
W. White in the firm of Gardner & 
White, ready-made linen manufac- 
turers, at No. 345 River Street. In 
the following year, the partnership 
was dissolved, and Jefferson Gardner 
continued in the business at No. 25 
Jacob Street. 

About the year 1845, 'he manufac- 
ture of linen cutfswas begun in Troy. 
On ihe introduction of the Wheeler 
& Wilson sewing machines in the 
collar, cuff, and shirt manufactories in 
Troy, in 1852, the different establish- 
ments shortly afterwaid were necessi- 
tated to increase the number of their 
operatives in order to fill the larger 
orders for the better-made goods. Ex- 
uert operatives, who before the use of 
sewing machines had received but 
fifty cents a day for stitching col- 
lars and cuffs, were enabled, after- 
ward, to earn daily from two dollars 
to two dollars and fifty cents by stitch- 
ing with the machines. (See Sewing 
Machines.) In 1855, O. W. Edson, 
of the firm of Bennett & Edson, was 
the first of the manufacturers to under- 
take to operate the Wheeler & Wilson 
sewing machines by steam-power at 
the firm's factory, on the southwest 
comer of Fulton and Union streets. 
This new departure in the use of 
steam-power was soon followed by the 
other manufacturers using sewing ma- 
chines. Recently the use of button- 
hole machines has effected no little 
change in the art of making button- 
holes. 

It is a noteworthy fact that the girls 
and women employed by the collar 
and cuff manufacturers in Ttoy have 
become so exceedingly skillful in the 
art of making collars that the female 
operatives of other places where the 
business has been undertaken have 
hitherto been unsuccessful in compet- 
ing with them, and this failure ac- 



counts, inpart, for the superiority of 
the collars and cuffs made in this city. 
Another prominent fact which sheds 
no unworthy fame on this local in- 
dustry is that almost all the manufac- 
turers themselves have acquired a 
thorough knowledge of the%usiness 
from long and contmued engagements 
in it. The workrooms of nearly'all 
the establishments are properly ven- 
tilated, well-lighted, tidy and clean. 
A single operative can stitch from 40 
to 80 dozens of collars during the or- 
dinary working hours of a day, and 
can earn from $6 to $14 a week. An 
expert employe can turn from 30 to 
40 dozens of collars in a day, and 
can earn from $6 to $10 a week. 

The sales of collars and cuffs made 
in Troy annually return to the manu- 
facturers about five million dollars. 
In placing the goods in the market 
not less than three million paper- 
boxes are required. 

Fellows & Co. — The history of the 
firm of Fellows & Co. begins in 1834, 
when Lyman Bennett undertook the 
business of making collars at No. 24 
North Third Street. In 1853, he en- 
tered into partnership with M. W. 
Hicks and O. W. Edson, under the 
name of Bennett, Hicks, & Edson, 
linen manufacturers, No. 344 River 
Street. The changes of the succeed- 
ing firms were ; Bennett & Edson, 
southwest corner of Fulton and Union 
Streets, in 1855 ; Bennett, Edson, & 
Strickland in i860; Bennett, Strick- 
land, & Fellows in 1861 ; Bennett & 
Fellows in 1866 ; Bennett, Fellows, 
& Co. in 1868; Fellows & Curtis in 
1871 ; and Fellows & Company in 
1884, which includes A. C. Fellows, 
J. C. Archibald, and G. L. Hastings. 
On the dissolution of the firm of 
Fellows & Curtis, A C. Fellows pur- 
chased the junior partner's entire inter- 
est in the establishment, and the sole 
right to use the trade-mark under 
which the <roods have become so 



76 

widely celebrated, and which is con- Canada frequently compel the firm to 

sidered a sufficient guarantee for the have its numerous employes work 

quality of the collars and cuffs on overtime to supply the demand for its 

which it appears. The manufactory goods. Besides the salesrooms at the 

of Fellows & Company is in the large manufactory, the others of the firm 

building on the southwest corner of are at 6io to 614 Broadway, New 




FELLOWS & CO., CORNER FULTON AND UNION STREETS. 



Fulton and Union streets ; the spa- York, 233 Church Street, Philadel- 

cious workrooms including those phia, and 242 Madison Street, Chi- 

vacated by Earl & Wilson in 1S76. cago. To maintain the notable repu- 

The large orders received from retail tation obtained by its goods, the firm 

dealers in fine goods throughout the employs only such persons as are qual- 

Unitcd States and in the provinces of ified by skill and experience to do the 



77 



work intrusted to them, for which the 
highest prices are paid. By these 
means the oldest collar and cuff estab- 
lishment in Troy endeavors to pre- 
serve its past and present good name. 

Corliss Brothers & Co., collar 
and cuff manufacturers, southwest cor- 
ner of Seventh Street and Broadway. 
Nearly half a century ago John M. 
Corliss and Arnold H. Holdridge, 
under the name of Holdridge & Cor- 
liss, began manufacturing collars and 
shirt bosoms at No. 8i Sixth Street. 
After existing a year, the partnership 
was dissolved in 1839 ; John M. Cor- 
liss conducting the business until 1840, 
when he and John W, White formed 
the firm of Corliss & White, linen 
manufacturers, at 345 River Street. 
On the dissolution of the firm in 1842, 
John M. Corliss continued in the 
business at the same place until 1844, 
when he removed to No. 323 River 
Street. In 1846, he became a part- 
ner of Hiram House, ihe firm taking 
the name of Corliss & House. In 
1851, the firm moved to No. 339 
River Street, and in 1853 to No. 361 
■River Street. In 1854, Samuel N. 
Ide was admitted as a co-partner, the 
name of the firm being Corliss, House, 
&Co. ; the factory being at No. 377 
River Street. On the withdrawal of 
Samuel N. Ide, in 1857, the business 
was continued by the other members 
of the firm, at the same place, until 
1862, when they occupied the building 
No. II King Street. Corliss & House 
were succeeded, in 1868, by John M. 
Corliss & Son ; Wilbur F. Corliss 
engaging in the business with his 
father at No. 24 Fifth Street. In 
1871, the firm occupied the building. 
No. 15 Sixth Street, and in 1878 
moved into the Earl & Wilson Build- 
ing, on the southwest corner of Broad- 
way and Seventh Street. The firm 
of Corliss Brothers & Co. was formed 
November i, 1883 ; the co-partners 
being Wilbur F., Charles H., and 



John A. Corliss, and Elmer H. Gar- 
rett. The business of Corliss Broth- 
ers & Co. is almost entirely limited 
to the manufacture of fine goods, par- 
ticularly all-linen goods. "The 
Clover-Leaf" brand of collars and 
cufls, of which they are the manufac- 
turers, has given a wide celebrity to 
the goods of the firm, not only popu- 
larizing them widely, but increasing 
steadily the large business of the en- 
terprising manufacturers. The firm 
has a saleroom at No. 76 Franklin 
Street, New York City, and one at 
Nos. 247 and 249 Monroe Street, 
Chicago. 

Earl & Wilson. The senior mem- 
ber of this widely-known firm, Wil- 
liam S. Earl, in 1848, entered the 
linen-collar and shirt-bosom manufac- 
tory of Jefferson Gardner, at No. 16 
King Street, to acquire a knowledge 
of the business. In 1850, he began 
making similar goods at No. 51 North 
Third Street, and, in 1851, as a '* man- 
ufacturer and wholesale dealer in 
ready-made linen," moved to No. 
II King Street. In 1856, he and 
Edwin D. Blanchard formed a part- 
nership under the name of Earl & 
Blanchard, linen manufacturers, and 
occupied a part of the Manufacturers' 
Bank Building, at the corner of 
River and King streets. On the 
death of Edwin D. Blanchard, in 
1859, the business was discontinued. 
In 1867, the firm of Earl & Wilson 
was formed, having its manufactory at 
No 5 Union Street ; Washington Wil- 
son being the second member of the 
firm. Gardner Earl, son of William 
S. Earl, was admitted a partner in 
1873, and Arthur R. Wilson, a brother 
of VVashington Wilson, in 1881. On 
the completion of its large brick 
building on the southwest corner of 
Seventh Street and Broadway, in 1876, 
the firm occupied the lower part of the 
attractive edifice. It is four stories 
high, with basement, having a front- 



78 




EARI, i: WILSON BUILDING, CORNER SEVENTH STREET AND IJROADWAV. 



age of 86 feet on Seventh Street, and 
a depth of 105 feet. The goods made 
by the firm are sent to its salesrooms 
at Nos, 33 and 35 East Seventeenth 
Street, Union Square, New York, and 
Nos. 174, 176, and 17S East Adams 
Street, Chicago, whence they are 
shipped to buyers. E. & W. is the 
trade-mark of the firm. Earl & Wil- 
son have a uniform price for the 
goods manufactured by them, and 
purchasers can obtain the firm's col- 
lars and cuffs only at the established 
rates. More than a thousand persons 
are employed by the firm to make the 
different styles of collars and cuffs 
demanded by its numerous customers 
throughout the United States. 

Geo. B. Cluett, Bro. & Go's 
Monarch shirt and Crown collar and 
cuff manufactories, two, five-story, 
brick structures, each 150 by 100 feet, 
are on the west side of River Street, 



between Jacob and Ilutton streets. 
Each spacious department, from the 
stock-room to the laundry, is furnished 
with the latest appliances for mak- 
ing and finishing the firm's goods 
for the market. From 1851 to 1873, 
the house made only collars and cuflFs ; 
the Crown collars and cuffs of recent 
years acquiring special fame through- 
out the United States. In 1873, the 
firm's successful shirt-business was 
inaugurated, having had its inception 
in the invention of the Patent Bound 
Bosom Shirt, popularly known as the 
Monarch shirt. The most noted of 
the different Cluett collar and cuff 
patents are the Reinforced Band Col- 
lar, the Entire Seam Collar, the Uni- 
form Seam Collar, and the Entire 
Seam Cuff. In 1851, Maullin & Blan- 
chard, manufacturers of collars, began 
the business at No. 282 River Street, 
succeeded, in 1856, by Maullin & 
Bigelow, and they, in 1861, by Maul- 



79 




GEO. H. CLUETT, BRO. & CO'S BUILDINGS. 



lin, Bigelovv, & Co.; George B. Cluett, 
a clerk in the manufactory from 1854, 
becoming a partner. On the dissolu- 
tion of the partnership, in 1862, Jo- 
seph Maullin and George B. Cluett 
formed the firm of Maullin & Cluett. 
On the death of the senior partner, in 
1863, the firm of Geo. B. Cluett, 
Bros., & Co. was formed ; the part- 
ners being George B. Cluett, J. W. A. 
Cluett, and Charles J. Saxe ; J. W. A. 
Cluett having held a clerkship with 
the former firms from 1852 to 1857. 
On Charles J. Saxe's withdrawal in 
1866, Robert Cluett became a partner, 
having been a clerk in the establish- 
ment from 1862. In 1874, R. S. Nor- 
ton, for five years the travelling agent 
of the firm, became a member of it. 
The business was conducted, from 
1862 to 1874, at No. 390 River Street ; 
from 1875 to 1880, at Nos. 74 and 
76 Federal Street, (the building burned 
March 20, 18S0) ; in 1SS0-81, at No. 
556 Fulton Street and at Nos. 13, 15 
and 17 Sixth Street. In 1881, the 



firm moved to the new building, Nos. 
441, 443 and 445 River Street, and, 
in 1884, occupied the other, Nos. 447, 
449 and 451 River Street. 

S. A. House's Sons, manufactur- 
ers of men and women's linen collars 
and cuffs, Gurley Building, northeast 
corner of Fulton and Fifth streets. 
The firm conducts the business estab- 
lished in 1S53 by Samuel A. House, 
the father of John M. and Edward O. 
House, now managing it. Its founder 
then began making collars and shirt 
fronts, at No. 3 Fourth Street. In 
1865, he admitted his sons into co- 
partnership with him under the firm- 
name of S. A. House & Sons ; the 
manufactory then being at No. 312 
River Street. In 1878, Samuel A. 
House withdrew from the business, 
the firm-name being changed to S. A. 
House's Sons. The firm manufactures 
men and women's collars and cuffs, 
which bear the imprint of its trade- 
mark, a tiger's head. The "Tiger" 
brand collars and cufis of S. A. 



80 



House's Sons are widely known. The 
firm has originated a number of styles 
of collars, the popularity of which has 
greatly enlarged its business. 

S. A. House's Sons are associated 
with The National Machine Com- 
pany, manufacturing button-hole, but- 
ton-sewing, and eyelet machines, at 
No. 506 Fulton Street. The recent 
invention of the button-hole machine 
made by the company has contributed 
no little to the perfection and dura- 
bility of button-holes in lately manu- 



president, and E. O. House, secretary 
and treasurer. The offices of the com- 
pany are at No. 42 White Street, New 
York, 108 and no Franklin Street, 
Chicago, and 40 Aldermanbury, E. C, 
London. 

Coon & Co., at No. 556 Fulton 
Street, manufacture men's fine linen 
collars and cuffs. J. H. Coon, the 
senior member of the firm, formed, 
with H. W. Cole, in 1856, the part- 
nership of Cole & Coon, beginning 




COON & CO., 556 FULTON STREET. 



factured shirts, collars, and cuffs. 
The machines are adapted to make 
different kinds of button-holes, and to 
make them in various fabrics. The 
eyelet machines are capable of work- 
ing eyelets of all sizes in shirts, cor- 
sets, and other underclothing. The 
machines are not only protected by 
patents in the United States, but also 
in England, France, Germany, Aus- 
tria, and Belgium The officers of 
the company are William M. House, 



business in a building formerly on 
the northwest corner of Grand Di- 
vision and North Third streets, 
whence they moved to the Manufactur- 
ers' Bank Building. On the admis- 
sion of J. M. Van Volkenburgh, in 
1859, the name of the firm was chang- 
ed to that of Cole, Coon, & Co. Re- 
moving, in 1861, from the Manufac- 
turers' Bank Building, the firm occu- 
pied a part of the building. No. 7 
Union Street, afterward burned in 



81 



the fire of May lo, 1862. On H. W. 
Cole's withdrawal, in 1861, Coon & 
Van Volkenburgh succeeded to the 
business. On J. M. Van Volken- 
burgh's withdrawal, in 1878, J. H. 
Coon, W. H. Reynolds, and D. W. 
Coon formed the firm of Coon, Rey- 
nolds, & Co. W. H. Reynolds hav- 
ing died in 1879, J. H. Coon, D. W. 
Coon, H. C. Statzell, and F. F. Pea- 
i body, in 1881, formed the firm of 
Coon & Co. In the spring of 1881, 



many fasliionable styles of fine goods, 
which are sent to the trade in neat, 
and peculiarly designed paper-boxes. 
The salerooms of the enterprising 
firm are at No. 46 Summer Street, 
Boston ; No. 634 Broadway, New 
York ; No. 23 North Third Street, 
Philadelphia ; Nos. 47 and 49 Ger- 
man Street, Baltimore; corner of 
Madison and Franklin Streets, Chi- 
cago, and Nos. 516 and 518 Market 
Street, San Francisco. 




H. C. CURTIS & CO., 421 AMI 423 RIVER STREET. 



the firm moved to No. 556 Fulton 
Street. By the burning of the build- 
ing, February 19, 1S85, at night, the 
firm sustained a heavy loss. Having 
thereafter temporarily occupied the 
Pine Building, on Sixth Street, be- 
tween Broadway and Congress Street, 
the firm, on July 8, re-occupied the 
renovated building. No. 556 Fulton 
Street. The attractive trade-maik of 
the firm is the figure of a coon coucli- 
ant, beneath which is the imprint, 
Coon & Co. The firm manufactures 



H. C. Curtis & Co., linen collar 
and cuff manufacturers, Nos. 421 and 
423 River Street. The advantages of 
an experience in any industry are so 
patent that seldom a business is en- 
gaged in successfully without some 
one of the persons conducting it 
has previously obtained a practi- 
cal knowledge of its details. The 
success attending almost every branch 
of manufacturing in Troy is doubt- 
less due lo the benefits of this 
important qualification. As many 



82 



other manufacturers of collars and 
cuffs in Troy, H. C. Curtis, the founder 
of the firm of H. C. Curtis & Co., 
first acquired a thorough and practical 
knowledge of the business by serving 
from 1862 to 1868 as an employe in 
all the different departments of a man- 
ufactory. In 1868, he became a mem- 
ber of the firm of Bennett & Fellows. 
In 1871, he and A. C. Fellows, both 
members of the former firm, entered 
into partnership, under the name of 
Fellows & Curtis, collar and cuff man- 
ufacturers. During the thirteen years 
of his association as a member of the 
firm, he had charge of its manufac- 
turing departments. In February, 
1884, the partnership was dissolved. 
On February ir, 1884, H.C.Curtis 
and Charles Cleminshaw formed the 
firm of H. C. Curtis, having its office 
and workrooms in the Cleminshaw 
Building, a large, five-story, brick 
structure, Nos. 421 and 423 River 
Street, west side between Bridge Av- 
enue and Jacob Street. The firm has 
for its trade-mark the three characters 
" C. & C," under which the special 
and fashionable fine goods made by 
the firm have had an extensive and a 
steadily enlarging sale in the principal 
cities of the Union. The very desira- 
ble class of collars and cuffs manufac- 
tured by H. C. Curtis & Co. has won 
such high favor with many dealers in 
men's furnishing goods in Boston, 
New York, Philadelphia, and other 
large cities, that the firm is frequently 
compelled to have its employes work 
overtime to fill the orders received 
from this particular class of custom- 
ers. Another line of customers de- 
mands special brands of collars and 
cuffs, in the manufacturing of which 
the firm makes a specially. The 
firm's " high-class goods " are attract- 
ively boxed and labeled. 

George P. Ide & Co., collar, cuff, 
and shirt manufacturers. Ide Build- 
ing, west side of River Street, imme- 



diately north of Hutton Street. The 
extensive business of the firm has 
been made notable by the enterprise 
of its members. The history of the 
growth of its business runs through 
two decades of years. Its founders 
were George P. Ide and S. V. R. Ford, 
who, as Ide & Ford, in 1865, began 
manufacturing collars at No. 506 Ful- 
ton Street. In 1867, Samuel N. Ide 
became a partner, the name of the 
firm being changed to Ide Brothers & 
Ford. S. V. R. Ford withdrew from 
the business in 1872, when Charles E. 
Bruce was admitted to the partnership, 
the firm becoming Ide Brothers & 
Bruce. On its dissolution, in 1878, 
George P. Ide, Charles E. Bruce, and 
James M. Ide formed the firm of 
of George P. Ide, Bruce, & Co. In 
1882, Frank B. Twining became 
a partner, the name of the firm 
being unchanged. The present part- 
ners, George P. Ide, James M. Ide, 
and Frank 13. Twining, associated, in 
1884, under the name of George P. 
Ide & Co. The firm moved from the 
Gurley Building, No. 506 Fulton 
Street, May 26, 1882, to occupy the 
part of the Franklin Building on the 
northwest corner of River and Hutton 
streets. In 18S5, the firm purchased 
it, calling it the Ide Building. The 
attractive structure, five stories in 
height, has a frontage of 150 feet on 
River Street, and a depth of 126 feet. 
Two brick walls partition the rooms 
from east to west through the entire 
building, which is further secured 
against the ravages of fire by a Worth- 
ington pump, having the effectiveness 
of two lire engines, besides being ram- 
ified with a series of Walworth au- 
tomatic sprinklers, attached to a large 
water-tank on the roof of the build- 
ing, and to the mains of the Troy 
water-works. The firm is actively 
engaged in supplying the trade with 
different styles of men's collars, cuffs, 
and shirts, and with women's collars 



84 



and cuffs, through its salesrooms, at 
No. 105 Franklin Street, New York ; 
No. 214 Church Street, Philadelphia ; 
and No. 146 Fifth Avenue, Chicago, 

Sanford k. Robinson, collar and 
cuff manufacturers, Broadway, be- 
tween Fifth and Union streets. The 
business was established by Day, Rob- 
inson, & Bradshaw, in 1866, at Nos. 
8 and g First Street. The firm of 
Sanford & Robinson, (Samuel B. San- 
ford and George S. Robinson,) suc- 
ceeded them in 1867. In 1881, John 
and Robert Squires became members 
of the firm. 

Holmes & Ide, manufacturers of 
women and men's linen collars and 
cuffs, Nos. 13 to 23 Federal Street, 
They occupy with their office and 
workrooms the second, third, and 
fourth floors of the large four story, 
brick structure, known as the new 
Tibbits Building, on the north side 
of Federal Street, between River and 
Fifth streets. About 20,000 square 
feet of floor-space is the aggregated 
area of the different manufacturing 
rooms in which cutting, stitching, but- 
ton-holing, boxing, and packing of 
collars and cuffs are done. In the 
stitching rooms about two hundred 
sewing machines are in use. The 
firm employs several hundred opera- 
tives in making the " Imperial" 
brand of women and men's linen 
collars and cufis, which have obtained 
for the manufacturers a wide and 
justly merited reputation throughout 
the United Stales. The firm has a 
salesroom at No. 27 Green Street, 
New York City, and one at No. 120 
Sutter Street, San Francisco. On 
December i, 1869, Stephen Parks, 
John C. Ide and Henry Holmes form- 
ed the partnership of Parks, Ide, & 
Holmes, and began manufacturing 
collars and cuffs in the Manufacturers' 
Bank Building, at the corner of King 
and River streets. In 1872, their in- 



creased business having demanded 
more spacious workrooms, they oc- 
cupied a large part of the Cole Build- 
ing, Nos. 13, 15 and 17 Sixth Street, 
west side, between Fulton and Grand 
Division streets. On December i, 
1S77, the senior partner, Stephen 
Parks, withdrew from the firm, and 
the present one of Holmes & Ide was 
formed. In April, 1880, the 'firm 
moved from Sixth Street to the 
Tibbits Building, on River Street, 
opposite the Rensselaer & Saratoga 
Railroad bridge, between Troy and 
Green Island. On May i, 1886, the 
firm moved into the building adjoin- 
ing the former, on Federal Street. 

Tim & Co., collar and cuff manu- 
facturers, Nos. 62 to 72 Sixth Street, 
One of the most noticeable buildings 
in Troy, at the south end of the 
Union Railroad Depot, is the large, 
five-story, brick building, belonging to 
this firm and that of Tim, Waller- 
stein, & Co., shirt manufacturers. 
The manufactory has a frontage of ' 
eighty-three feet on Sixth Street, and 
a depth of one hundred and twenty- 
three feet. In it the firm has a large 
number of experienced employes en- 
gaged in making collars and cuffs for 
the jobbing trade, by which they are : 
widely sold in the United States. The: 
two firms, jointly, have a laundry and I 
paper-box manufactory in the Pine : 
Building, adjoining and north of their 
own building. The firm of Tim & 
Co. was formed, in 1872, by Solomon < 
and Louis Tim, and Max Herman, 
who then began manufacturing col- 
lars and cuffs in the Grant Building, , 
on the southeast corner of Fifth and I 
Federal streets. In 1874, they moved ! 
to No. 303 River Street, west side, , 
between Fulton and Grand Division 1 
streets. In 1876, J. O'Sullivan was 
admitted into the firm. In 187S, the 
firm moved into the large, four-story, 
brick building, Nos. 57 and 59 Fed- 
eral Street, north side, between Fifth: 



85 



and Sixth streets. In 1881, Tim & 
Co. and Tim, Wallerstein, & Co. oc- 
cupied their building on the east side 
of Sixth Street, between Broadway 
and State Street. In 1SS3, M. Ober 
became a member of the firm. 

J. C. Wheeler & Co., manufac- 
turers of women and men's linen col- 
lars and cuffs, Nos. 7, 9 and 11 Union 
Building, west side of Sixth Street, 
between Fulton and Grand Division 
streets. The firm's predecessors were 
Clapp & Brust, 1874 ; Brust & AUen- 
dorph, 1875; Brust, Allendorph, & 
LeBoeuf, 1876 ; Wheeler, Allendorph, 
& LeBoeuf, 1877 ; and Wheeler, Le- 
Boeuf, & Co.. 1882. The firm of J. 
C. Wheeler & Co. was formed on 
December i, 1884. The business was 
first conducted in a part of the build- 
ing, on the northeast corner of Union 
Alley and Fulton Street, whence the 
manufacturers removed in 1879 to 
Nos, 7, 9 and 11 Sixth Street. The 
"Continental" brand of collars and 
cuffs made by the firm gives distinc- 
tion to its goods. 

Beiermeister & Spicer, linen col- 
lar and cuff manufacturers, Nos. 481 
and 483 River Street. The firm 
begins its history with the partner- 
ship of Frederick Beiermeister, sr. 
and Frederick Beiermeister, jr., who 
engaged in the business, at No. 361 
River Street, in 1875, under the name 
of Beiermeister & Son. In 1877, the 
firm moved to No. 269 River Street. 
In 18S0, R. M. Smith was admitted 
a partner ; the firm taking the name 
of Beiermeister, Smith, & Co. In 
the following year, John Burden be- 
came a member of the firm, which 
then took the name of Beiermeister, 
Smith, Burden, & Co. On May i, 
that year, the firm moved to the large, 
four-story, brick building, on the 
northwest corner of Hutton and 
River streets. In 1882, by the with- 
drawal of F. Beiermeister, sr. and R. 



M. Smith, the firm became Beiermeis- 
ter & Burden. The present partners, 
Frederick Beiermeister and George A. 
Spicer, formed the firm of ]5eiermeis- 
ter & Spicer, on October i, 1884. 
The firm's goods are distinctively 
known as the "Anchor" brand collars 
and cufis. The firm has a salesroom 
in New York, at No. 710 Broadway, 
and another in Chicago, at No. 195 
Fifth Avenue. The enterprise of the 
firm is not limited to the manufacture 
of any one particular style of collars 
and cuff's. The changes occasioned 
by fashion are timely anticipated, and 
new patterns are seasonably offered 
to the trade. The firm holds several 
patents, which greatly enhance the 
value of its goods. 

Ide Manufacturing Company, 
on the northeast corner of North 
Fourth and Hutton streets, makes the 
well-known Griffin br^nd of English 
welt collars and cuffs. The business 
was begun, in 1876, by William 
N. Patton, in the building occupied 
by the company. In 1878, he and T. 
M. Dunham formed the firm of Pat- 
ton & Dunham. On its dissolution, 
in 1880, William N. Patton continued 
the business, until he and D. O. Pat- 
ton, in 1882, formed the firm of the 
Patton Brothers, who, on March 10, 
18S4, was succeeded by Fred. B. Ide, 
C. W. Dater, and James E. Dicker- 
man, under the name of the Ide Man- 
ufacturing Company. On the with- 
drawal of James E. Dickerman, in 
November, 1884, John L. Blanchard 
became a member of the company. 
The latter withdrew from it on Oc- 
tober 2, 1885. 

Joseph Bowman & Sons, (Joseph 
Bowman, sr., Cassius M. and Joseph 
Bowman, jr.), manufacturers of collars 
and cuffs, Bunnell Building, Nos, 57 
and 59 Federal Street. The senior 
member of the firm engaged in the 
business, in 1853, with William F. 



86 



Mosely, under the name of Bowman 
& Mosely, at 324 River Street. In 
1877, Joseph Bowman again engaged 
in the business, at Nos. 485 and 
487 River Street. In 1882, the pres- 
ent firm succeeded him. 

Marshall & Briggs, (John A, 
Marshall and David C. Briggs.) man- 
ufacturers of the " M and B " brand of 
men's fine linen collars and cuffs, Nos. 
380, 382, and 384 River Street, en- 
gaged in the business, in 1876, at No. 
377 River Street. 

Corning & Barker, manufacturers 
of collars and cuft's, southwest corner 
of Seventh Street and Broadway. 
Douglas Corning engaged in the busi- 
ness, in 1876, at Nos. 7, 9, and ii 
Sixth Street. In 1881, the firm of 
Douglas Corning & Co. (W. Barker) 
was formed, which was succeeded 
in December. 1885, by the present 
firm. 

Gallup Novelty Works, at Nos. 
481 and 483 River Street, were estab- 
lished in 1880, at Nos. 357 Fulton 
Street, to manufacture women's linen 
collars and cuffs. In the following 
year they were moved to the large, 
four-story, brick building, on the 
northwest corner of River and Hut- 
ton streets, where they are now. On 
December 1, 1881, William P. Van 
Zile purchased Charles E. Shaffer's 
interest in the business. William H. 
Gallup, formerly of the firm of Gal- 
lup & Tucker, 1864-68, and subse- 
quently associated with the Gallup 
Manufacturing Company, has been 
manager of the woiks since their es- 
tablishment. The goods of the estab- 
lishment are popularly known as the 
" G. N. W." brand, and are exclu- 
sively restricted to those worn by 
women and children. The New York 
salesroom is at No. 19 Mercer Street ; 
the Boston, at No. 48 Summer Street ; 
and the San Francisco, at Nos, 6 and 
8 Sutter Street. 



Morrison & Turner (Edwin Mor- 
rison and William W. Turner), manu- 
facturers of the " M & T " brand of 
men's linen collars and cuffs, Nos. 
449 & 451 River Street. The firm 
was formed in November, 1882, 
and succeeded Hitchcock & Sims, 
1878; George Hitchcock. 1878 ; and 
Hitchcock, Morrison, & Co., 1880. 

Wilbur, Miller, & Wilhur (G. 
W. Wilbur, P. F. Miller, and H. 
Wilbur), manufacturers of collars and 
cuffs, Dennin Building, northwest 
corner of Fulton and Mechanic streets. 
They are successors to Willnir, Du- 
Bois, & Wilbur, 1883; and Wilbur. 
Krum, & Wilbur, 1884. Tlie firm 
was formed in December, 1S85. 

Collar and Cuff Button-Hole 
Maker.— 

C. E. Kilmer, factory 9 and 11 
Sixth Street. Established 1S78. He 
employes many experienced opera- 
tives in making button-holes in cloth, 
leather, and rubber goods, but mostly 
in fine linen collars and cuffs. 

College. — (See Troy Business 
College.) 

Commercial Agency. — (See 
Mercantile Agency.) 

Commercial Telephone 
Company. — (See Telephone Com- 
pany.) 

Court House, The, on the 
southeast corner of Second and Con- 
gress streets. The " act for building a 
court-house and gaol in the county of 
Rensselaer " was passed January 11, 
1793. Lansingburgh would probably 
have been the county-seat had not the 
people of Troy promised to pay the 
county treasurer one thousand pounds 
toward the erection of the two build- 



88 



ings. It was therefore enacted that 
they should be built " within sixty 
rods of the dwelling-house [tavern] of 
Stephen Ashley, in the village of 
Troy, in the town of Troy." As a 
gift, Jacob D. Van der Heyden, 
March 22, 1793. conveyed to the 
supervisors of Rensselaer County 
three lots at the southeast corner of 
Second and Congress streets, on which 
the erection of the court-house began 
that year. Besides the one thousand 
pounds paid by the people of Troy, 
the following sums were raised by 
taxation for the erection and comple- 
tion of the court-house and jail : au- 
thorized by act of January 11, 1793, 
p^6oo ; of March 25, 1794, ;!^8oo ; of 
April 3. 1797, $5,500; of April 4, 
1798, $500. The court-house was a 
two-story, brick building, with a 
steeple. The small bell hung in the 
belfry was lettered : " Bailey & Hed- 
derly, C. F. New York. Fecit 1794." 
The Court of General Sessions of the 
Peace sat for the first time in the 
building on the second Tuesday in 
November, 1794. The jail was built 
in the rear of the court-house. (See 
Jail.) Until its completion, a room 
with a barred door and grated win- 
dows in the court-house was used for 
the confinement of criminals. A 
whipping post and stocks were placed 
in the yard. Occasionally criminals 
were there publicly whipped by the 
sheriff or his deputy ; the offenders 
severally receiving a number of lashes 
less than forty. Those held in the 
stocks were often objects of ridicule, 
and were not unfrequently pelted with 
offensive missiles by the village chil- 
dren. 

At a meeting, held November 15, 
1826, the supervisors resolved to pe- 
tition the legislature to authorize 
$25,000 to be raised for the erection 
of a new court-house. This action of 
the supervisors was dependent upon 
assurances given by the city of Troy to 



defray two-fifths of the cost of the 
building, exclusive of the sum first 
apportioned ; the city to use such 
rooms in the building as the municipal 
authorities required. The act author- 
izing the supervisors to raise, by tax, 
"a sum not exceeding fifteen thousand 
dollars, for the purpose of rebuilding 
the court-house," was passed March 
13, 1827. This sum was increased to 
131,000. When the building was 
ready for occupation, the supervisors, 
in March, 1831, assigned two rooms, 
on the first floor, on the north side of 
the hall, to the city for the mayor's 
court-room and the common council 
room, and three rooms in the base- 
ment for city offices. The second 
court-house cost about $40,000. Sing 
Sing marble was used in its construc- 
tion. The style of i*s architecture is 
that of the Temple of Theseus. 

Crockery and China Ware. 

Starkweather & Allen (Richard 
D. Starkweather and Frederick P. 
Allen), dealers in crockery, china, 
glass-ware, and fancy goods, Nos. 235 
and 237 River Street; and also north- 
west corner of River and Federal 
streets. 

Carpenter & Ball, stone and 
other ware. No. 102 Ferry Street. 
(See Troy Pottery and Sewer Pipe 
Company.) 

Curry-combs.— 

William P. Kellogg's curry-comb 
works are on the .=outh side of Con- 
gress Street. Ida Hill, east of Cypress 
Street. William Wheeler, the first 
manufacturer of currycombs in the 
United States, engaged in the busi- 
ness, in 1843, in Poultney, Vermont. 
There Charles H. Kellogg became 
associated with him in it the firm 
taking the name of William Wheeler 
& Co. In 1S45, the firm came to 




13 



90 



Troy and established the works at No. 
468 River Street. In 1850, Charles 
H. Kellogg began manufacturing 
curry-combs at the present location of 
the works. In May, 1862, William 
P. Kellogg succeeded to the business. 
He, in January, 1866, entered into 
partnership with Charles R. Walsh; 
the firm taking the name of William 
P. Kellogg & Co. In the following 
year, Charles R. Walsh withdrew, and 
Warren T. Kellogg became associ- 
ated with his brother in the business. 
Since January i, 1875, William P. 
Kellogg has conducted it. During 
the late war, the latter made for the 
United States government large quan- 
tities of percussian caps. There is no 
definite information obtainable respect- 
ing the origin of the manufacture of 
curry-combs. For many centuries men- 
tion has been made of them. A metal- 
lic curry-comb is composed of three or 
more paralleled rows of short teeth, 
to which is attached a handle. A blade 
of iron, known as a blank bar, is set 
between the rows of teeth to prevent 
the latter from entering the skin of 
the animal. Curry-combs are used to 
raise and separate the hairs matted 
together by perspiration and dirt, and 
to remove mud. The Kellogg curry- 
combs have had for many years an 
extensive sale in the United States 
and Canada, and retain the high 
reputation they have long borne wher- 
ever used. Mane and tail combs, 
whip-racks, boring and mortising ma- 
chines are also made at the works. 

Sweet & Clark Manufacturing 
Company has its curry-comb works 
on the north side of Pine Woods Av- 
enue, immediately east of the inter- 
section of Pine Woods and Pawling 
avenues. The senior member of the 
company. Miles Sweet, in 1873, estab- 
lished a curry-comb manufactory on 
the Hollow Road, now Spring Ave- 
nue. In January, 1874, he and Wil- 
liam W. Harrison formed the firm of 



Sweet & Harrison. On its dissolu- 
tion, in December, that year. Jay Wil- 
lard Clark became associated with him 
in the business ; the firm taking the 
name of Sweet & Clark. On July 5, 
1875, the works were located on the 
present site. The Sweet & Clark 
Manufacturing Company, Miles Sweet 
and Jay Willard Clark, was formed in 
July, 1882. Besides making all kinds 
of curry-combs, the company manu- 
factures curry and horse cards, boring 
machines, malleable iron Cooley whip- 
racks, crown whip-racks, patent door 
fasteners, stove lifters, garden trowels, 
butter and lard knives, and hardware 
specialties. Miles Sweet, since 1845, 
has been engaged in the manufacture 
of curry-combs. His long experience 
in the business has enabled the com- 
pany to secure an extensive sale for 
its goods. 

Dark Day.— Tuesday, Septem- 
ber 6, 1881, began with the sky having 
a dark yellow, brassy appearance. 
The murky, misty atmosphere veiled 
the earth with a darkness strongly af- 
fecting the visibleness of the nearest 
objects, and tinging them with a pale, 
golden light. The gloom of "old 
gold" invested everything until about 
noon, when the sun. with a dark red- 
ness, began to brighten the earth. 
The gas lights, which were burning 
all the morning in the stores, banks 
and manufacturing establishments, 
had a subdued, pale blue brilliancy. 
The scholars of some of the public 
schools were dismissed, and the oper- 
atives in some of the collar factories 
discontinued work. The darkness ex- 
tended through the state of New York 
and in parts of the adjacent New 
England states. 



Day Home, on the east side of 
Seventh Street, between State and 
Congress streets. The institution was 
projected in November, 1858, as an 



91 



industrial school. By the act of April 
lo, lS6i, it became " The Children's 
Home Society " of the city of Troy. 
According to the act of incorporation, 
it was established to provide a day- 
home for such children as were fit 
objects of charity, to instruct them in 
the rudiments of learning and in 
work, to furnish them a noon-day 
meal, (if thought advisable), and to 



Seventh Street, was purchased for 
$7,000 by the society. The home is 
a two story, weather-boarded building. 
It was formally dedicated, June 27, 
that year. By the act of March 5, 
1866, the name of the Children's Home 
Society was changed to that of the 
Day-Home. In 1879, E. Thompson 
Gale erected, to the memory of his 
son, Alfred deForest Gale, the Day 




DAY HOME. 



gain such an influence over them at 
the home and at their homes as 
would elevate them morally and so- 
cially. Twenty-four women as trus- 
tees were appointed by the act to 
manage the affairs of the institution. 
It is said that the society was the 
first corporate body of women in 
the state of New York constituted 
by the legislature. On May i, 1861, 
the Tibbits mansion and lot, on 



Home chapel and school building, on 
the north side of the lot. The founda- 
tion of the attractive structure, 30 
by 55 feet, is of blue stone, and the 
walls are of Croton pressed brick, 
with Maiden stone trimmings. On 
the first floor are the school-rooms ; 
on the second, the chapel and parlor. 
The handsomely designed window at 
the west end of the chapel bears the 
inscription : " In memoriam. Alfred 



92 



deForest Gale. Born 8th Oct. 1845. 
Died 30th March. 1S77." Architect, 
M. F. Cummings. Cost $10,000. 
The average daily attendance of chil- 
dren is about 100. Principal of the 
school, Miss L. R. Redfield ; assistant 
teacher, Miss Bessie Holeur ; matron, 
Miss M. F. Merchant. 

Delaware and Hudson Ca- 
nal Company. (See Railroads.) 

Drugs and Medicines.— 

John L. Thompson, Sons, & Co., 
wholesale dealers in drugs, chemicals, 
and medicines, at Nos. 159, 161, and 
163 River Street, between State and 
Congress streets, represent one of 
the oldest business houses in Troy. 
In 1797, Samuel Gale, jr., the 
father of E. Thompson and John 
B. Gale, opened a drug, medi- 
cine, and paint store in a weather 
boarded building occupying a part of 
the site of the present establishment 
of John L. Thompson, Sons & Co. ; 
the former being immediately north 
of the store of George and Benjamin 
Tibbits, on the northwest corner of 
Congress and River streets, previously 
belonging to Abraham Ten Eyck. 
About the year 1805, Samuel Gale ad- 
mitted his brother William into part- 
nership with him ; the firm taking the 
name of S. & W. Gale. Some years 
later the partnership was dissolved. 
In 1818, John L. Thompson, then 
nineteen years old, coming from 
Poughkeepsie, became a clerk in the 
store of his brother-in-law, Samuel 
Gale, in which the latter, as post- 
master from 1806 to 1S29, kept the 
Troy post-office. The building was 
partly burned at the time of the great 
fire of Tuesday afternoon, June 20, 
1820. April 24. 1821, Samuel Gale 
and John I^. Thompson formed the 
partnership of Gale & Thompson, 
which was continued until February 



2g, 1828, when the senior partner sold 
his interest in the business to his asso- 
ciate. In 1832. the old weather- 
boarded structure gave place to the 
four-story, brick building. No. 161 
River Street, erected by John J.. 
Thompson. In 1835, David Cowee, 
son of Farwell Cowee, became a clerk 
in the store, and in 1841 was admitted 
to the copartnership, which took the 
name of John L. Thompson & Co. 
In 1852, the increased business of the 
firm required the purchase of the ad- 
joining building, No. 163 River 
Street. In 1856, John I. and Wil- 
liam A Thompson became members 
of the firm, which took the name of 
John L. Thompson, Song, & Co. The 
establishment was further enlarged by 
the purchase of the building. No. 159 
River Street, and later by the erection 
of the store-house on Dock Street, 
west of River Street. In 1869, James 
F. Cowee, son of David Cowee, was 
admitted a member of the firm. The 
senior partner, John L. Thompson, 
died March 27. 1880. 

Robinson, Church, &Co., whole- 
sale druggists, Nos. 189 and 201 River 
Street. The senior member of the 
firm as a copartner has been engaged 
in the business for a longer period 
than any druggist in the city. Pome- 
roy & Wells, druggists, who origi- 
nated the house, are known to have 
moved from their first place of business 
in May, 1S05, into the building, one 
door south of D. & I. Merritt's store, 
on the west side of River Street, be- 
tween State and Albany (Broadway) 
streets. At the white store, sign of 
the Skull and Mortar, the firm con- 
tinued the business until Ira M. Wells 
some years later succeeded to the 
business. His store, almost opposite 
the present establishment, was burned 
in the fire of June 20, 1820. Having 
formed a partnership with John V. 
Fassett, the firm of Wells & Fassett, 
in May, 1821, moved to its new 




JOHN L. THOMPSON, SONS, & CO'S ItUILDINGS. 



94 



store, opposite that of Isaac Merritt & 
Son, and two doors north of that of 
John Van Vechten, jr. On the disso- 
lution of the firm, November 22, 1822. 
it was succeeded by that of Fassett & 
Seklen ; John V Fassett and William 
J. Selden. Soon after the firm moved 
to No. 201 River Street. The firm of 
J. V. Fassett & Co., formed in 1839, 
Daniel Robinson having become a 
partner of J. V. Fassett, was succeeded, 
in 1843, by Fassett & Co.; the part- 
ners being J. V. Fassett, Daniel Rob- 
inson, and John A. Grisvvold. Fas- 
sett & Co. were succeeded in 1846 by 
by Robinson & Griswold. On the 
withdrawal of John A. Griswold, in 
1856, Charles R. Church became asso- 
ciated with Daniel Robinson in the 
business ; Charles R. Church having, 
from 1854, been a member of the firm 
of Willson & Church, druggists, at 
No. 321 River Street. On February 
T, 1879, Robinson & Church were suc- 
ceeded by Robinson, Church, & Co.; 
the partners being Daniel Robinson, 
Charles R. Church, John A. Robinson 
the son of the senior member of the 
firm, and Philip A. Calder. 

Druids, Order of— 

Mistletoe Grove, No. ii, organ- 
ized December 4, 1845, meets at 
Druids' Hall, No. 197 River Street, 
on Thursday evenings. 

Excelsior Grove, No. 24, meets 
at Druids' Hall, on the first and third 
Saturdays of each month. 

Dry-Goods. — 

Converse, Collins, Merrill, & 
Co., jobbers of dry-goods, hosiery, 
and notions. No. 329 River Street. 
This house, besides being the only 
wholesale dry-goods establishment in 
the city, represents by the past part- 
nerships of the senior member of the 
firm one of the early dry-goods houses 



of Troy. The originators of the 
wholesale dry-goods business in Troy 
were Henry and George Vail, who, 
about the year 1807, engaged in the 
retail business. In 1815, H. & G. 
Vail established their wholesale dry- 
goods house, at No. 158 River Street, 
opposite the drug store of Samuel 
Gale, and in 1830 admitted Ebenezer 
Proudfit into the firm. On the with- 
drawal of Henry Vail, in 1832, George 
Vail, Ebenezer Proudfit, and J. L. 
Van Schoonhoven, under the name of 
George Vail & Co., succeeded to the 
business. On the retirement of George 
Vail, in 1835, his son, D. Thomas 
Vail, became a member of the firm, 
which then took the name of Vail & 
Co., occupying the building No. 163 
River Street. In 1847, Van Schoon- 
hoven & Proudfit succeeded the firm. 
They, in 1850, moved to the building. 
No. 227 River Street, Their succes- 
sors have been Van Schoonhoven, 
Proudfit, & Co., 1852; Van Schoon- 
hovens, (James L. and James,) Fisk, 
(L. C), & Holmes, (Charles A.), 1859; 
in i860, Perrin W. Converse, the se- 
nior member of the firm of Converse, 
Collins, Merrill, & Co., became a part- 
ner; Van Schoonhoven, Fisk, & Con- 
verse, 1865 ; Converse, Gary & Co., 
1872, Perrin W. Converse, Sidney 
T. Gary, and George G. Converse, 
No. 12 Broadway ; Converse, Peck- 
ham, (Reuben) & Co., (George G. Con- 
verse) 1873; in 1874, the firm also oc- 
cupied the new building, No. 37 
Third Street ; Converse, Peckham, & 
Vilas, (Samuel H.) 1877; Converse. 
Peckham, & Co., (William M. Peck- 
ham) 1881. On March i, 1884, the 
present firm was formed by Perrin W. 
Converse, Cornelius V. Collins, Carlton 
H. Merrill, and William A. Meeker, 
who occupied the three story, brick 
building, No. 329 River Street, west 
side, between Fulton and Grand Divi- 
sion streets. The firm commands a 
large jobbing trade in Northern New 



95 

York. Vermont, and Western Massa- street, immediately north of the build- 

chusetts. jj^g Q^ {]-,g northeast corner of River 

G. V. S. QUACKENBUSH & Co., dry- and State streets, occupied many years 

goods, carpets, and upholstery mate- by Knox & Morgan, dry-goods mer- 

rials, southeast coiner of Third Street chants. Some years later the 'store 




G. V. S. OUACKENBUSH \- (OS liriLDINc 



and Broadway. Tlie founder of this, was enlarged by the erection of build- 
the oldest dry-goods house in the city, ings in the rear of it, Nos. 7 and 9 
was Gerrit Van Schaick Quacken- State Street, where it extended byjan 
bush, who, in 1824, engaged in the angle to the latter street, the side .'en- 
dry-goods business at No. 202 River trances being opposite the post-office, 



on the south side of State Street. 
Perceiving the drift of trade tending 
toward Washington Square and Al- 
bany Street (now Broadway), he pur- 
chased the Lyman property, on the 
southeast corner of Third and Albany 
streets, and erected there the present 
four-story, brick building. He trans- 
ferred his stock to the new store, and, 
on October i, 1856, began business 
in it. On February i, 1865, the firm 
of G. V. S. Quackenbush, & Co. was 
formed ; the copartners being Gerrit 
Quackenbush, (the son of G. V. S. 
Quackenbush), Samuel H. Lasell, and 
William H. Sherman. In 1868, Fred- 
erick Bullis became a copartner. On 
the death of Gerrit Quackenbush, 
May 8, 1869, the three copartners con- 
tinued the business. On June 10, 
1872, Gerrit V. S. Quackenbush died, 
aged 71 years. On February i, 1873, 
Samuel H. Lasell and William H. 
Sherman succeeded to the business 
under the firm-name of G. V. S. 
Quackenbush & Co. The building, 
fronting fifty feet on Third Street and 
having a depth of one hundred and 
thirty feet on Broadway, is conveni- 
ently situated for visitation of persons 
residing in all parts of the city, and 
those coming to Troy by railroad. In 
the basement are the wholesale and 
reserve stock departments. On the 
first floor is the large and varied stock 
of the general retail dry-goods depart- 
ment. On the second floor are the dis- 
play and sale departments, containing 
cloaks, curtains, upholstery goods, 
carpets, and oil cloths. On the same 
floor is the Butterick paper pattern 
department. On the third floor are 
the sale and display department of 
fine carpets and the upholstery work- 
rooms, and on the fourth floor are the 
carpet work-rooms. The past reputa- 
tion of this long established dry-goods 
house of selling none but the best se- 
lections of manufactured goods in the 
market is still jealously preserved. 



Experienced salesmen employed in 
the different departments of the great 
store give courteous attention to the 
wants of all classes of customers fre- 
quenting it. 

Church & Phalen, retail and 
wholesale dry-goods merchants, oc- 
cupy the connected buildings, Nos. 85 
and 87 Third Street, and Nos. 55 and 
57 Congress Street, which form on 
iheir first floors a spacious salesroom 
extending by a right angle two hun- 
dred and thirty feet from the entrances 
on Third Street to those on Congress 
Street. The enterprising firm, to give 
dispatch to its constantly increasing 
business uses the New York store ser- 
vice system, which permits the rapid 
transmission of sold goods and re- 
ceived money from sixty separate sta- 
tions to a central balcony at the angle 
of the heavily-stocked department. 
An Otis's elevator carries customers 
to the second floor, on which is the 
cloak and suit department, where not 
only is a great display of cloaks, dol- 
mans, and other seasonab'e wraps, but 
also cloths and trimmings from which 
garments of the latest fashion may be 
ordered made. On the third floor is 
the cloak and wrap manufacturing de- 
partment, where more than a hundred 
skilled employes are engaged in 
making the garments ordered on the 
second floor. On the fourth floor is 
the calico-wrapper dopartment, which 
gives employment to several hundred [ 
women. In the basement is the whole- 
sale department, where out-town mer- • 
chants are supplied with such selec-- 
tions of goods as are needed to stock ; 
their stores. In this large dry-gonds ■ 
house are to be found such cloihs. 
silks, hosiery, laces, ribbons, and olhen 
stuffs as appertain to the stock of any 
first-class establishment. The mem- 
bers of the firm, Andrew M. Church 
and Patrick Phalen have in recent 
years with noticeable enterprise suc- 
cessfully enlarged the small business 




> <. i^ 



CHURCH & PHALEN'S CONGRESS STREET BUILDING. 



14 




CHURCH .»c PHALEN S THIRD STREET BUILDING. 



99 



begun in 1841 by Edmund Cole, at 
No. 52 Congress Street. George Bris- 
tol, a clerk in his store, became his 
successor in 1846. In 1854, he moved 
the store to Rand's Building, on the 
northwest corner of Third and Con- 
gress streets. In 1858, Edward E. 
Belden became his partner ; the firm 
taking the name of George Bristol & 
Co. On the dissolution of the part- 
nership, in l86r, George Bristol indi- 
vidually continued the business until 
March i, 1863, when George H. 
McFarland and Andrew M. Church 
were admitted into partnership ; the 
firm-name being George Bristol & Co. 
On March i, 1866, George H. McFar- 
land withdrew. On the death of 
George Bristol, in 1868, Andrew M. 
Church and Miss Flavia M. Bristol 
succeeded to the business, under the 
old firm-name. In 1873, they moved 
the store to the new brick building, 
Nos. 85 and 87 Third Street. On 
February i, 1880, Patrick Phalen, 
having previously withdrawn from tlie 
firm of D. McCarthy, Sons, & Co., of 
Syracuse, N. Y., doing the largest 
dry-goods business in that city, with 
which he had been associated more 
than twenty years, became a partner 
of Andrew M. Church. In October, 
1883, the firm of Church & Phalen 
occupied the large building on Con- 
gress Street, and connected it with the 
Third Street building. 

William H. Frear, at Cannon 
Place, has the personal distinction of 
possessing and conducting a larger 
retail dry-goods business than any 
other merchant in a city of the United 
States of the same population as that 
of Troy. The patronage of " Frear's 
Troy Bazaar " is not wholly local, for 
its fame attracts customers from all 
the cities, villages and rural districts 
of Eastern and Northern New York, 
Vermont, and Western Massachusetts. 
The people daily thronging the spa- 
cious salesrooms of the well-regulated 



establishment are not the only evi- 
dence of the magnitude of its busi- 
ness. More than twelve thousand let- 
ters and packages are received and 
transmitted monthly through the post- 
office. Four and sometimes eight, 
wagons are engaged in delivering 
goods to purchasers in the city and its 
vicinity. From two hundred and fifty 
to three hundred persons are employed 
in the different departments of the 
large store. The annual cash sales of 
the retail departments exceed $1,000,- 
000. The main salesroom, on the first 
floor, has a frontage of 100 feet on 
Washington Square, and a depth of 
119 feet. The part extending to the 
Second Street entrances has a width 
of 44 feet and a depth of 130 feet. 
On the second floor are the cloak, 
shawl and suit departments, the up- 
holstery department, and the kitch- 
en furnishing department. On the 
Second Street third floor is the 
counting room. In the basement are 
the goods-receiving, the carpet, and 
the wholesale departments. In Feb- 
ruary, 1859, William H. Frear came 
to Troy, and, on March i, entered 
as a salesman the dry-goods store 
of John Flagg, at No. 12 Fulton 
Street. On February 11, 1865, he 
and Sylvanus Haverly formed the 
partnership of Haverly & Frear. On 
March 9, that year, they opened 
a dry-goods store at No. 322 
River Street. By articles of agree- 
ment drawn on January 29, 1868, 
John Flagg became a copartner on 
March 16, 1868; the firm taking the 
name of Flagg, Haverly, & Frear. 
On April 9, that year, the firm occu- 
pied the store-rooms Nos, 3 and 4 
Cannon Place, vacated by Decker & 
Rice. On January 2, 1869. Sylvanus 
Haverly withdrew, and the firm-name 
was changed to that of Flagg & Frear. 
On the expiration of the partnersliii) 
of Flagg & Frear, on March i, 1874, 
William H, Frear came into posses- 








]my%i^]dfiM. 






%L,til!feJki^i^^r 













101 



sion of the business. In 1875, '76, 
'80, and '84, he enlarged the establish- 
ment by renting and refitting adjoin- 
ing rooms, so that at present he occu- 
pies ,Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 Cannon 
Place, and Nos. 13 and 15 Second 
Street. 

Dyers. — About the year 1826, 
Aaron Hall began dyeing in Troy, in 
a building on the northwest corner of 
Jay and River streets. Charles Myers, 
in 1837, engaged in the same business 
at No. 277 River Street, where he was 
succeeded by Anthony St. Jermain. 
His works were purchased in 1840, 
by James Warwick, who, in 1842, 
moved them to No. 435 River Street. 

Christopher W. Shacklady, 
dyer, in 1844, became associated with 
James Warwick in the business, the 
firm taking the name of Warwick & 
Shacklady, and occupying the build- 
ing known as No. 435 River Street. 
In April, 185 1, the firm moved to 
the present location of the works of 
of Christopher W^. Shacklady, who, in 
1859, succeeded to the business. In 
1870, the firm of Shacklady & 
Ford was formed, which, in the spring 
of 1886, was dissolved. At his dye- 
works, on the southeast corner of 
River and Jacob streets, Christopher 
W. Shacklady has all the conveniences 
necessary to execute the orders given 
him. 

William R. Lee, proprietor of the 
Elder steam dye-works, established 
in 1856, continues the dyeing business 
at No. 53 State Street, north side, be- 
tween Fifth and Sixth streets. 

Earthquakes. — Two distinct vi- 
brations of the earth were felt by 
many people in Troy about 2:07 P. M., 
on Sunday, August 10, 1884. The 
wave movement was north and south. 
On Sunday, November 4, 1877, at 



1:53 A. M., there was a shock of an 
earthquake more perceptible in its 
effects than the later one. 

East Greenbush, one of the 
towns of Rensselaer county, originally 
known as the town of Clinton, was 
erected February 23, 1855. Its terri- 
tory was a part of the town of Green- 
bush. 

The Harrowgate spring, about a 
half a mile from the Greenbush ferry, 
derived its name, in 1792, from the 
celebrated Harrowgate springs, twenty 
miles west of York, England, because 
the mineral properties of the former 
were similar to those of the latter. A 
building was erected near it for 
visitors using the water. After the 
war of 1 812 the spring lost its pop- 
ularity. 

In the burial ground, in the rear of 
the Dutch church, in East Greenbush, 
is the grave of Edmund Charles 
Genet, who came to the United States 
from France, in December, 1792, as 
minister plenipotentiary and consul- 
general. In March, 18 10, he came to 
the town of Greenbush and purchased 
a farm, on which he built the Genet 
homestead, now the summer residence 
of Nelson Davenport of Troy. The 
slab marking his grave is inscribed : 

" Under this humble stone are in- 
terred the remains of Edmund Charles 
Genet, late adjutant-general, minister 
plenipotentiary and consul-general 
from the French Republic to the 
United States of America. He was 
born at Versailles, parish of St. Louis, 
in France, Jan. 8, 1763, and died at 
Prospect Hill, town of Greenbush, 
July 14, 1834. Driven by the storms 
of the revolution to the shades of re- 
tirement, he devoted his talents to his 
adopted country, where he cherished 
the love of liberty and virtue. The 
pursuits of literature and science en- 
livened his peaceful solitude, and he 
devoted his life to usefulness and 



102 



benevolence. His last moments were, 
like his life, an example of fortitude 
and true Christian philosophy. His 
heart was love and friendship's sun. 
which set on this transitory world to 
rise with radiant splendor beyond the 
grave." 

Beside his grave are the tombs of 
his two wives; before marriage Cor- 
nelia Tappan, and Martha Brandon 
Osgood. He was one of the origi- 
nators of the Rensselaer County Ag- 
ricultural Society. 

In May, 1812, the United States 
government purchased about 300 acres 
of land, one and a half miles east of 
the village of Greenbush, for a mili- 
tary post. Major-General Henry 
Dearborn, commanding, erected there 
eight frame buildings, known as the 
barracks, each 22 by 252 feet, two 
stories high, with basements, four on 
two opposite sides of the parade 
ground, and four other frame build- 
ings, two stories high, 90 feet long, 
for officers* quarters, two occupying 
sites on the two other opposite sides 
of the parade ground. A number of 
other buildings were erected on the 
eminence commanding an extensive 
view of the surrounding country. 
The cantonment had accommodations 
for more than 4,000 soldiers. The 
camp's elevated position, frequently 
called Mount Madison, was deemed 
a very healthful one, but dur- 
ing the first year of its occupation 
much sickness prevailed among the 
troops. On May 2, 1831, the property 
was sold by the government. 

The only village in the town is that 
of East Greenbush, near the middle 
of the southern boundary line of the 
town. Population about 250. In the 
place are two churches, one hotel, 
and about forty other buildings. 

Population of the town of East 
Greenbush: 1855, 1,606; i860, 1,607; 
1865, 1,663; 1870, 1,845; 1875, 
2,067; 1880, 2,127. 



Elbow Street was called Fulton 
Street in 1847. 

Electric Light Company, 

Troy, works on southeast corner of 
River and Liberty streets, was incor- 
porated, February 21, 1885. Capital 
stock, $150,000. The first use of elec- 
tricity for illuminating purposes in 
the city was made on Thursday night, 
December 22, 1881, The first con- 
tract for lighting the city streets by 
electricity was made. April 20, 1885. 
The officers of the company are 
Albert E. Powers, president ; Samuel 
Foster, vice president ; and George H. 
Morrison, secretary and treasurer. 

Electrotyping — 

Troy Electrotype Company. No. 
7 and 9 Sixth Street, between Fulton 
and Grand Division streets. 

Emerald Beneficial Associ- 
ation. — Branch No. 3 was organ- 
ized. August 15, 1875 ; chartered, 
August 29, 1876. The association 
holds its meetings on the first and 
third Mondays in each month, at Em- 
met Hall. No. 8 Third Street. 
Branch No. 6, organized, April 17, 
1884, meets at the same place. 

Emmet Association, Rob- 
ert, meets at Emmet Hall, No. 8 
Third Street. 

Empire Order of Mutual 
Aid. — Griswoli) Lodge, No. 18, 
meets every fourth Monday, in the 
Temple of Honor, No. 273 River 
Street. Troy Lodge, No. 128, meets 
on the second Monday of each month, 
at the same place. 

Employment Society, La- 
dies', incorporated September 10, 
1855, has its rooms in its building 



103 



No. 45 Ferry Street, between First 
and Second streets. This admirably 
conducted society aids a large number 
of needy women by employing them 
to make clothing which the managers 
afterward sell. The present officers 
are Mrs. C. L. MacArthur, president ; 
Mrs, John N. Squires, vice president ; 
Miss Sarah Thurman, secretary ; Mrs. 
David Cohen, treasurer. 



Engineers and Surveyors' 

Instruments.— 

W. & L. E. GuRLEY, in their large, 
four-story, brick building, on the 
north side of Fulton street, between 
Fifth and Union streets, manufacture 



The site of the establishment has 
for more than three-score years been 
occupied by buildings in which sur- 
veying and mathematical instruments 
have been manufactured. Julius 
Hanks, of Mansfield, Connecticut, 
having, in 1808, erected in Gibbons- 
ville, (now West Troy), a bell and 
brass foundry, purchased, June 15, 
1825, from Jacob D. E. Van der Hey- 
den, lot 795, on the north side of El- 
bow (Fulton) Street, between Fifth 
Street and the alley east of it. On 
this and the adjoining lot, afterwards 
purchased by him, he erected a two- 
story, weather-boarded building, 
fronting with two gables and a 
portico on Fifth Street. A small 




JULIUS hanks' building, 1825. 



theodolites, solar telescopes, com- 
passes, transits, plane tables, Y levels, 
miners' compasses, chains, rods, and 
drawing instruments. The enterpris- 
ing firm makes annually more engi- 
neering and surveying instruments 
than any other three mathematical 
and philosophical instrument manu- 
factures in the United States, and 
widely distributes them in all parts of 
the world. The Gurley instruments 
are used by engineers in Japan, Chi- 
na, India, Syria, Arabia, Egypt, 
South and Central America, Mexico, 
Cuba, Hayti, Canada, and in every 
state and territory in this country. 



bust of Benjamin Franklin ornament- 
ed the entablature of the front door 
on the portico, and the dial of a clock 
the gable of that part of the building 
in which were the office and work- 
rooms : the north part being tlie dwell- 
ing of the proprietor. On Fulton 
Street, on the west side of the alley, 
Julius Hanks built a small, frame 
structure, which he usedfora foundry. 
In the two buildings he began manu- 
facturing, as he advertised, " church 
bells, town clocks, copper and brass 
castings, and surveyors' instruments 
of the most improved construction." 



104 

In 1829, his son, Oscar, succeeded to on the site of that known as No. 319 

the business. River Street, using the basement for a 

William Gurley, the senior member foundry, the first story for an office 

of the firm of W. & L. E. Gurley, and a salesroom, and the two upper 

after graduating, in 1839, from the stories for work-rooms. Lewis E. Gur- 

Rensselaer Institute, now known as ley, before entering Union College, 

the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in 1847, whence he was graduated in 

entered the establishment of Oscar July, 1851, had acquired a knowledge 

Hanks, in 1840, to learn the business, of the business with Phelps & Gurley. 




GURLEY BUILDING, FULTON STREET. 



On February 25, 1545, he and Jonas 
H. Phelps formed a partnership, under 
the name of Phelps & Gurley, mathe- 
matical and philosophical instrument 
makers, and rented the basement of 
the building formerly on the south- 
west corner of River and Grand Divi- 
sion streets. On May i, 1845, the 
firm occupied the building formerly 



In September, 185 1, he was admitted 
a member of the firm, which took the 
name of Phelps & Gurleys. On 
February i, 1852, the Gurley Broth- 
ers purchased Jonas H. Phelps's inter- 
est, and continued the business under 
the name of W. & L. E. Gurley. In 
the spring of 1852, they bought the 
property formerly belonging to Oscar 



105 



Hanks, on Fulton and Fifth streets. 
That year, they erected, on the site of 
the Hanks foundry, a four-story, brick 
building, fronting 65 feet on Fulton 
Street, and furnished it with the ma- 
chinery which their enlarged business 
demanded. On May 10, 1862, it and 
the building on the corner of Fifth 
and Fulton streets were burned in the 
great fire of that day. The erection 
of the present imposing structure was 
immediately undertaken. The engine 
in it set in motion the new machinery 
on December 10, 1862, the same day 
of the same month that the machinery 
in the former building was put in op- 
eration in 1852. During the civil war 
the firm made for the United States 
government brass fuse-plugs for Co- 
lumbiad shells, brass sight-pieces for 
Parrott guns, and brass mountings for 
saddles. The firm also male war 
munitions for a number of contractors. 
The firm's notable display of en- 
gineering instruments , at the Interna- 
tional Exhibition, at Philadelphia, in 
1876, was decreed a special award by 
the Centennial Commission. An en- 
gineer's transit of aluminium, the 
first ever made of that light metal, 
was a part of the firm's attractive ex- 
hibit. There are several costly and 
curiously constructed machines in the 
establishment used for engraving let- 
ters and graduating lines on metallic 
plates which automatically operate 
with wonderful precision. The firm 
manufactures platinum wire for its tel- 
escopes of the exceeding fineness of 
1-12.000 of an inch, 10,000 fibres of 
which can be thrust together through 
the eye of a No. 9 cambric needle. 
A thread of the wire sufficient to en- 
circle the earth can be coiled inside a 
thimble. 

The Gurley Building has a frontage 
of 130 feet on Fulton Street and a 
depth of 90 on Fifth Street, and ex- 
tends along Union Street 118 feet. 
The salesroom, office, drafting, ship- 



ping, and engine rooms are on the first 
story. The spacious manufacturing 
rooms are on the second and third 
stories. The elaborate and valuable 
machinery includes twelve graduating 
engines, six of which are automatic, 
three engraving and figuring machines, 
and more than a hundred lathes. The 
sales of the firm's instruments yearly 
range from $150,000 to $200,000. A 
large number of experienced work- 
men are employed in the establish- 
ment. 

Episcopal Churches.— There 

are seven Episcopal churches in the 
city. 

St. Paul's Church, northeast cor- 
ner of Third and State streets. In a 
sketch of the life of the Right Rev, 
Philander Chase, Bishop of Ohio, it 
is related that after his graduation 
from Dartmouth College, in 1795, he 
visited Albany, where he became a 
teacher in the academy, and on the 
following Sunday " read divine ser- 
vice in Troy." It may therefore be 
assumed that at that time the small 
number of Episcopalians in the vil- 
lage were accustomed to assemble in 
available rooms to engage in religious 
worship. In 1803, among the clergy- 
men occasionally conducting these 
services was the Rev. David Butler. 
He had been ordained a priest by the 
Right Rev. Samuel Seabury, Bishop 
of Connecticut, at Middletown, in 
that state; June 9, 1793, and, in 1794. 
became rector of the parish at Litch- 
field, where he ministered until he 
was instituted rector of Christ Church, 
Reading, Connecticut, April 17, I799- 
Advised by the visiting clergyman, 
the zealous laymen accepted the aid 
tendered them by Trinity Church, 
New York, to build a church and sup- 
port a rector. To become an incor- 
porated body, they met in the court- 
house, on Monday, January 16, 1S04, 



15 



106 

and having made Nicholas Schuyler singburgh, having organized them- 
chairman, they "determined that all selves, on January 5, 1S04, into a body 
the male persons present " should " be known by the name of Trinity Church 
a church or congregation * * * of that village, the Right Rev. Ben- 
known in law by the name of the jamin Moore, conceiving that the wel- 
Trustees of St. Paul's Church in fare of the members of the two con- 
Troy." They then elected Eliakim gregations could best be promoted by 




ST. Paul's church, 1819. 

Warren and Jeremiah Pierce, church uniting them in one parish, suggested 

wardens, and Nicholas Schuyler, the erection of a church midway be- 

David Buel, jr., Lemuel Hawley, tween the two villages. Deeming the 

Thomas Davis, Thomas Hillhouse. proposed site unsuitable, the people 

•John Bird, William S. Parker, and of St. Paul's congregation determined, 

Hugh Peebles, vestrymen. A num- on March 8, 1804, to erect a church 

ber of Episcopalians residing in Lan- in the central part of the village, and 



107 



instructed the trustees to purchase of 
John Bird the east parts of lots 183 
and 184, on the northwest corner of 
Congress and Third streets. The 
owner, unwilling to place a price 
upon the property, its value was ap- 
praised by Daniel Merritt and John 
McCoun. The lot, 65 by 100 feet, 
was purchased, March 26, for 
$425. David Buel, jr., Thomas Davis, 
and Nicholas Schuyler, the building 
committee, were instructed " to con- 
tract with proper workmen to put up 
the building of the church; the frame 
to be well put up and filled in with 
brick, one thick, the roof well cov- 
ered to the top of the brick of 
the steeple, and the house to be in 
every respect well inclosed." On 
Monday, July 2, the corner-stone was 
laid by the Rev. David Butler, " who 
had previously been chosen rector by 
the vestry." The event was thus re- 
ferred to by the Albany Gazette of the 
following day : " Yesterday morning, 
at 10 o'clock, the Rev. David Butler, 
accompanied by the Rev. Mr. Coe, 
pastor of the Presbyterian Cliurch, 
and a respectable number of citizens, 
formed in procession and proceeded 
to the spot destined for the Protestant 
Episcopal Church, and with the usual 
exercises of prayer, vocal and instru- 
mental music, &c., laid the corner 
stone upon which to build an edifice 
for the public worship of God." 

On his return to Reading, the Rev. 
David Butler wrote, on August 2, 
' to the vestry of the church of Troy 
and Lansingburgh," that he had ob- 
tained his dismission from that parish, 
and would accept the call given him. 
" I shall endeavor to make myself 
ready to remove with my family when- 
ever it may be convenient for Mr. 
Warren to come down with his ves- 
sel." On the Sunday preceding 
Christmas, in 1 804, there were five 
persons in the congregation who had 
attended the celebration of the Holy 



Communion, and these partook of it 
with several other persons present at 
that time. 

Early in the summer of 1805, the 
church was completed. On Wednes- 
day, June 26, the pews and seats 
were " sold at public vendue." The 
persons who had subscribed and paid 
money to erect the building or to pur- 
chase the organ were privileged to 
have the amount deducted from the 
sum to be paid for pews or seats. 
Trinity Church, New York, contrib- 
uted $2,000 to the erection of the 
church. The organ, constructed in 
England, had been in use in the old 
French church in New York City. 
For two decades of years after its 
transference to St. Paul's it was the 
only church-organ in Troy. The 
clerk's desk, the lectern, and pulpit, 
it is said, were constructed one above 
the other as in old English churches. 

On Wednesday, January 8, 1806, 
the Rev. David Butler was instituted 
rector of St. Paul's parish, and on the 
following day that of Trinity, Lan- 
singburgh. He conducted every Sun- 
day one service in Troy and one in 
Lansingburgh, except on every fourth 
Sunday, when he officiated in Water- 
ford. On Thursday morning, August 
21, the Right Rev. Benjamin Moore 
consecrated the church. The rector, 
whose clothing was of the fashion of 
the last century, always walked 
to the church in gown and bands from 
the rectory, then on the east side of 
Fourth Street, and nearly opposite 
the present site of the Unitarian 
Church. Robing himself in the con- 
tracted room, beneath the pulpit, he 
emerged in his surplice to officiate in 
the service. In 1813, the number of 
regular communicants had increased 
to 84. The rector's manifold duties 
in St. Paul's parish caused him, in 
in 1814, to sever his pastoral relations 
with Trinity Church, Lansingburgh. 
Tradition relates that the sonorous 



108 



responses of the clerk were of a pecu- 
liar solemnity and deeply impressed 
children. The Canticles were always 
read until the enlargement of the 
building, at which time, to please 
some of the members disliking the in- 
novation of chanting them, it was or- 
dered that only one should be chanted, 
either the Venite or Jubilate. Later all 
the Canticles were sung except the TV 
Deum, which was never sung while 
St. Paul's congregation worshipped in 
the building. In 1819, it was en- 
larged by increasing its length 35 feet 
at the chancel or north end. This 
addition made the building, including 
the tower, 90 feet long and 45 wide. 
The school-house, built in 1809, at 
the north end of the church, was re- 
moved to the lot on the north side of 
the parsonage, on Fourth Street. 

Desiring a new and larger church, 
a great number of the members peti- 
tioned the vestry, in January, 1826, 
to take steps to build one. On Feb- 
ruary 27, David Buel, jr., Stephen R. 
Warren, Nathan Warren, E. Pattison, 
Lewis Richards, James Van Brackle, 
and Ira Ford were appointed a com- 
mittee to report a suitable site, and 
were requested to inquire whether 
the old burying-ground, on the south- 
east corner of Third and State streets, 
could be obtained and upon what 
terms ; also whether the church could 
be exchanged for the Methodist or Bap- 
tist church, or either of the lots upon 
which they were built. On March 17, 
it was determined that the lot of 
Joshua Harpham, on the northeast 
corner of Third and State streets, and 
the next one, north of it, belonging to 
Benjamin Gilbert, and a part of the 
lot, next north of the latter, the 
property of Stephen Bouton, jr., 
should be purchased. On May I, 
the first two lots, each 50 by 130 feet, 
were severally purchased for $3,500 
and |2,8oo, both subject to annual 
ground-rents. On each was a two 



story, wooden building. They were 
sold and removed. The pump in the 
street, near the curb of the pavement, 
was taken from the well, which was 
covered with a flag-stone. On Sep- 
tember 16, Nathan Dauchy, Nathan 
Bouton, Nathan Warren, Lewis Rich- 
ards, and Jacob Bishop were appointed 
a building committee, and authorized 
to sell the church on the southwest 
corner of Third and Congress streets 
and the lot on which the school-house 
was standing on Fourth Street. 

In the spring of 1827, the excava- 
tions for the foundation of the present 
church were begun. On Tuesday 
afternoon, April 24, the corner-stone 
was laid. At four o'clock, the rector, 
wardens, and vestrymen, with some 
of the pastors of the other churches in 
the city, and a large number of people 
went in procession from the old church 
to the site of ihe new one. " They 
then descended into the excavation, 
intended for the foundation of the 
new edifice, and the corner-stone 
was there laid in due form. In a 
cavity of the corner-stone, made for 
the purpose, a glass vase was depos- 
ited, with the following contents : 
The Holy Bible and Book of Com- 
mon Prayer, enclosed in leather and 
covered with wax ; a manuscript his- 
tory of the origin and progress of the 
Episcopal Church in this city ; a list 
of the houses of worship " then " in 
Troy ; a list of the clergymen ; a roll 
with the following Latin inscription ; 
' In hac urbe, i6mo Jan. A.D. 1804, 
societas Christiana, auctoritate Epis- 
copalis Ecclesiae Protestantism in 
Feoderatis Civitatibus America; Sep- 
tentrionalis, appellata Ecclesia Sancti 
Pauli, Trojce, prima est constituta, 
Suum templum, eodem anno adifica- 
tum refecium est, A. D. 1819, ac am- 
plius constructum. A. D. 1827, 24 
mo Apr. Rev. David Butler, rectore, 
necnon Valde Johanne Henrico Ho- 
bart Episcopo, hoc novum templum, 



109 



auspiciis beatis, conditum est' ; a copy 
of Sword's Pocket Almanac, Christian 
Calendar and Ecclesiastical Register 
for 1827 ; a copy of Tuttle & Rich- 
ards' City Calendar for llie years 1826 
and 1827 ; the last number of each of 
the five papers published in this city ; 
one number of several other pe- 
riodical journals ; a New York Price 
Current ; a printed address to parents 
on the subject of Sunday schools ; a 
printed circular to the members of 
the Episcopal Church in the United 
States ; and a silver plate on which 
was engraved the following inscrip- 
tion : ' This corner-stone of Saint 
Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church 
of the City of Troy was laid on the 
24th day of April, anno Domini 1827, 
and the 51st year of the Independ- 
ence of the United States of America, 
by the Rev. David Butler, rector of 
the church ; Nathan Bouton and 
Esaias Warren, wardens ; George 
Tibbits, Nathan Warren, William 
Bradley, Nathan Dauchy, Francis 
Yvonnett, Elias Pattison, James Van 
Brackle, and David Buel, jr., vestry- 
men. The Right Rev. John H. Ho 
bart, Bishop of the Protestant Episco- 
pal Church of the diocese of the state 
of New York. Nathan Bouton, Na- 
than Dauchy, Lewis Richards, Jacob 
Bishop, Nathan Warren, building 
committee. Master-builders, Peter 
Stewart, James McFarlan, masons ; 
Farquhar McRae, John Corey, car- 
penters. John Quincy Adams presi- 
dent of the United States of Ameri- 
ca.'" When the corner-stone had 
been laid, the rector delivered an ad- 
dress and the exercises 'closed with a 
cii i prayer. 

ta, I The building, constructed of Am- 
ca! sterdam limestone, was consecrated 
ni- 1 by the Right Rev. Bishop Hobart, on 
2| ] Saturday, August 16, 1828. On the 
■(, completion of the edifice the follow- 
lo- ing particulars were printed respecting 
ai, it : " The main body of the church is 



103 feet by 70. At the west end is a 
tower 24 feet square, projecting 12 
feet from the face of the wall, and 
100 feet high. * * * There are 
five windows on each side, and three 
in the east end, each 25 feet high by 8 
feet wide — except the great window 
over the altar, which is 40 feel high 
and 20 feet wide. Inside, clustered 
columns support the galleries and the 
ceiling, which latter is turned into 
Gothic arches, ornamented with ribs 
and rows of stucco. The altar Iront, 
the pulpit, the breastwork of the gal- 
leries, and the pews are beautifully 
painted in imitation of British oak. 
There are one hundred and forty slips 
on the lower floor, and seventy on 
the side galleries, besides seats in the 
organ loft. * * * The new bell, 
which is an excellent one from 
Hanks' foundry, and is swinging in 
the tower, weighs 22 cwt. A neat 
staircase behind the pulpit leads 
down to a spacious vestry room in 
the basement, into which there is also 
a door in the rear wall. The court 
is paved all around the church with 
broad flags, and the whole is enclosed 
by a neat fence with balusters." The 
lots and the building cost $40,368 66. 
The organ, built by Henry Erben, of 
New York, had 18 slops and 865 
pipes. On August iB, one hundred 
pews in the church were sold for 
$38,000. Some years laver, the fence 
on the west and south sides of the 
building was removed. The erection 
of the present rectory was undertaken 
in 1865. 

The Erben organ was displaced in 
1854 by a much larger one, the gift of 
Mrs. Martha C. Warren, the widow of 
Stephen Warren. Another, made by 
C. & G. G. Hook & Hastings of Bos- 
ton, and connected with the former 
by pneumatic trackers to play the two 
at the same time, was placed in the 
gallery on the north side of the 
chancel, in 1881. On the first Sunday 




ST PAUL'S CHURCH, Ib28 



Ill 



in January, 1879, ^ boys' choir, organ- 
ized by E. Coleman Webb, deceased, 
choirmaster and organist, succeeded 
the quartette choir previousiy singing 
in the church. 

Among the rich memorial gifts in 
the building is an elaborate brass lec- 
tern, presented Easter, 18S0, by Mrs. 
Walter P. Warren, in memory of her 
brother, " Edward Ingersoll Warren, 
born July 18, 1858, died April 8, 
1878 ;" a brass, triple corona, for light- 
ing the chancel, the gift of the Hon. 
James Forsyth, in 1880; a number of 
finely illuminated panels on the sides 
of the chancel, painted and given by 
Mrs. E. Warren Paine, in 1880 ; a 
communion service, the gift of Mrs. 
John L. Thompson, in memory of her 
deceased husband, in 1881 ; white 
marble altar steps, given in 1883, by 
William E. Hagan and family, in 
memory of Frank Covell Hagan, who 
died December 19, 1882 ; a beautiful 
Caen marble reredos, English alabas- 
ter panels, Tennessee marble columns 
and shelf, given at Easter, 188C, in 
memory of Mrs. Phebe Warren Tay- 
loe, born September 4, 1804, died 
November 6, 1884 ; also a credence in 
memory of Mrs. Eliza A. Paine, born 
March 22, iSoi, died December 20, 
1866. 

The other attractive memorials 
in the church are the richly illumi- 
nated glass in the chancel window, 40 
feet high and 20 wide, placed there 
by the congregation to the memory of 
the Rev. David Butler, D. D. On 
the north side of the reredos is a tab- 
let, erected in 182S by the vestry " in 
memory of Eliakim Warren, senior 
warden of this church from its organ- 
ization in 1804 until his death. To 
his zeal and muniticence the congre- 
gation is indebted under God for its 
origin and prosperity. He died Sep- 
tember 4, 1824, aged 77 years." On 
the south side of the reredos is an- 
other erected by the vestry, in mem- 



ory of Phebe, relict of Eliakim War- 
ren. She died January 17th, 1835, 
aged 80 years." Near it is a brass 
incribed : "David Butler, D. D., 
first rector of the parish, 1804-1834. 
Died July il, A. D. 1 842, aged 80 
years." Beside it is another lettered : 
" Robert B. Van Kleeck, Doctor of 
Divinity, rector of this church, 
1837-1854. Born August 25, A. D. 
1810. Died, November 23, 1880, 
aged 70 years." Another, near it, 
is the gift of the Young Men's Guild 
of St. Paul's Church, in memory of 
" Francis Harison, S. T. D. Born 
in New York City, December 
15, 1839. Rector of this church from 
June I, 1873, until his death. Died 
December 29, 1885." On the north 
wall of the church are tliree tablets ; 
one " in memory of Esaias Warren. 
* * * A discreet and faithful 
warden of this church, in which office 
he succeeded his venerable father. 
He was born in Norwalk, Connecti- 
cut, October 16, 1771. Died in this 
city the 19th of April, 1829." Near 
it is another " in memory of Stephen 
Warren, third son of Eliakim and 
Phebe Warren, for seventeen years 
senior warden of this church, an office 
in which his only predecessors were 
his father and eldest brother. Born 
March 9. 1783, Died May 9, 1847." 
The third is '' sacred to the memory 
of Nathan Warren, who died August 
13, 1834. aged 57 years." On the 
south wall of the church is a brass 
" in memory of Jonas Coe Heartt, 
vestryman of this church from 1831 to 
1S61 ; warden from 1861 to 1874. 
Born August 12, 1793. Died April 
30, 1874"; and to "Catharine, his 
wife, born August 8, 1793, died De- 
cember 28, 1869," Two colored glass 
windows in the front wall of the build- 
ing were given at Easter, 1885, one 
by the Young Men's Guild of St. 
Paul's Church, and the other by the 
Sunday-school. 



113 



The corner-stone of St. Paul's Par- 
ish House or Chapel, on State Street, 
was laid July 4, 1869. The stone 
structure occupies the site of tlie two- 
story, brick, Sunday-school house 
erected in 1832. The building was 
dedicated by the Right Rev. William 
Croswell Doane, Bishop of Albany, 
on St. Paul's Day, 1871. The Ger- 
man congregation of St. Paul's parish 
began worshipping in the chapel on 
the second Sunday of October, 1881. 
The illuminated chancel window 
bears the inscription : "In memory 
of T. C. Brinsmade, M. D., who died 
June 22, A. D. 1867. Erected by his 
wife." The illuminated window in 
the east wall was given by John Ho- 
bart Warren, in memory of his de- 
ceased wife, "Eliza Atwood Tibbits 
Warren, born August 12, 1831. En- 
tered into rest, April 6, 1870." The 
stone font was the gift of Mrs. Wil- 
liam O. Cunningham, in memory of 
her infant son, William Stuart Cun- 
ningham, who died March 25, 1870." 

The Martha Memorial House, at 
the north side of the church, erected 
and furnished by Joseph W. Fuller 
and wife, in memory of their daughter, 
Martha W. Fuller, was presented to 
the parish by the Rev. Eliphalet N. 
Potter, D. D., in their behalf, on All 
Saint's Day, November i, 1881. 

The parish school has an endow- 
ment of about $12,000. 

Rectors: David Butler, D. D., 
elected July 2, 1804, instituted June 
l8, 1805, resigned April 26, 1834 ; 
Robert B. Croes (assistant rector), 
elected November 26, 1829, began 
his ministrations March 2, 1830, re- 
signed January 30, 1831 ; Isaac Peck, 
(assistant rector), elected August 27, 
1831, began his ministrations Decem- 
ber 4. elected rector April 26, 1834, 
resigned December 12, 1836; Alonlzo 
Potter, D. D., (officiated), 1836-37, 
(made Bishop of Pennsylvania in 
1845) ; Robert Boyd Van Kleeck, 

16 



D. D., elected October 16, 1837, in- 
stituted November ig, resigned Feb- 
ruary 6, 1854; Thomas W. Coit, 
D. D., LL. D., elected March 20, 
1854, accepted April 17, began his 
ministrations April 30, resigned Sep- 
tember 20, 1872 ; Eliphalet N. Pot- 
ter, D. D., (associate rector), began 
his ministrations March i, 1869, re- 
signed April 2, 1872 ; Francis Hari- 
son, D. D., called May 4, 1873, ac- 
cepted May 21, began his ministra- 
tions June I, instituted October 28, 
died December 29, 1885; H. Ashton 
Henry, (assistant minister), priest in 
charge, January i, 1886, to present 
time. 

Assistant ministers : William G. 
Spencer, October 11, 1854 to 1855 ; 
George C. Pennel, October 11, 1855 
to July II, 1856; Thomas Brinley 
Fogg, July II, 1S56 to July 11, 1857 ; 
John Scarborough, July 19, 1857 to 
July 8, i860, (made bishop of New 
Jersey in 1875); Edgar Tefft Chapman, 
July 15, i860 to 1862 ; F. Wain- 
wright, 1862 to 1863 ; George Worth- 
ington, 1864 to January 2, 1865 ; 
(made bishop of Nebraska in 1885) ; 
Charles A. Holbrook, September 24, 
1866 to 1867 ; Richard S. Adams, 
(officiated at St. Paul's Free Chapel), 
November g, i86g to July 5, 1870; 
F. S. Luther, 1871 to 1872 ; Walker 
Gwynne, (officiated at St. Paul's Free 
Chapel), October, 1872 to March i, 
1876 ; George W. Shinn, October 10, 

1873 to January 9, 1875 ; Francis 
A. Shoup, January g, 1875 to 
June, 1875 ; Alexander McMillan, 

1874 to April 16, 1877 ; William 
C. Prout, (officiated at St. Paul's 
Free Chapel), Tuly 15. 1S76 to 
June 16, 1878; William M. Pickslay. 
June 9. 1877 to 1878 ; Pelham Wil- 
liams, S. T. D., (officiated at St. Paul's 
Free Chapel), December 21. 1879, 
to January 6, 1881 ; Henry T. Leslie. 
i87g ; Johannes Rockstroh, (in charge 
of St. Paul's German congregation). 



114 



July I. 1881 to July I, 1885 ; Arthur 
B. Moorhouse, 1884 to 1885 ; Julius 
G. Erhardt, (in charge of St. Paul's 
German congregation), July i, 1885 
to April, 1886 ; H. Ashton Henry, 
(priest in charge of St. Paul's parish), 
January i, 1886 to present time. 

St. John's Church is on the 
southeast corner of First and Lib- 
erty streets. In the fall of 1830 a 
number of Episcopalians intending 
to organize a second Episcopal 
church in the city, began holding 
lay services in the Presbyterian session 
house, No. 71 Fourth Street. In that 
building, in November, they organ- 
ized " St. John's Church in the city 
of Troy " by electing David Buel, 
and John Whiten, wardens, and David 
Buel, jr., Lewis Rousseau, Asahel 
Gilbert, jr., Darius Weed, Francis N. 
Mann, Charles S. J. Goodrich, Henry 
Rousseau, and Melzer Flagg, vestry- 
men. A committee was appointed to 
negotiate the purchase of St. Paul's 
Church, on the northwest corner of 
Congress and State streets. On Jan- 
uary 13, 1831, the ground and the 
building, " including bell, organ and 
other personal property appurtenant 
to the church-edifice," were bought 
for $5,000. The purchasers cove- 
nanted that the building should for- 
ever thereafter be " used and appropri- 
ated to and for the use of an Episco- 
pal church by a congregation in con- 
nection with the Protestant Episcopal 
Church," and that the property should 
revert to St. Paul's Church if this use 
of the building were not made. The 
Rev. John A. Hicks of Easton, Penn- 
sylvania, was called to the rectorship 
of the church, and took charge of the 
parish in May, 1831. St. John's con- 
gregation, it is said, included at that 
time " seventeen communicants and 
some twenty families." In 1839, a 
new steeple replaced the old one, and 
a larger bell was hung in the belfry. 



In September, that year, a committee 
appointed to consider the expediency 
of building a church near Washington 
Street reported adversely, and in the 
following year $2,000 were expended 
in the renovation of the old edifice. 
Dissatisfied with its location, and be- 
lieving that the growth and influence 
of the Episcopal Church in the city 
would be promoted by building a 
church in a part of Troy where there 
was not a Protestant one, the congre- 
gation requested a full release of St. 
Paul's Church upon the property pur- 
chased of it, and the privilege of sell- 
ing the church and ground belonging 
to it and of using the money obtained 
from the sale to erect another edifice 
for the congregation, "to be conse- 
crated forever to the use of the Pro- 
testant Episcopal Church." On March 
23, 1849. '^hs trustees of St. Paul's 
Church accepted the terms and condi- 
tions proposed by St. John's congre- 
gation. On February 10, 1853, two 
lots, numbered 6 and 7, belonging to 
Dennis M. Fitch, on the southeast 
corner of First and Liberty streets, 
were purchased for $3,600, and in the 
spring of that year the erection of the 
present substantial and attractive edi- 
fice was undertaken. On March 14, 
the property on the northwest corner 
of Congress and Third streets was sold 
to Gardner W. Rand for $9,000. Its 
delivery was under an agreement that 
the building should be torn down, 
and until that was done, the edifice 
should " not be occupied or rented by 
the purchaser for any purpose what- 
ever." On Saturday, June 18, the 
corner-stone of the present church 
was laid by the Right Rev. Jonathan 
Mayhew Wainwright, Provisional 
Bishop of New York. On August 
25, 1854, the unfinished building, 
during the conflagration of that day, 
when two hundred buildings were 
burned in its vicinity, was barely 
saved from the destroying element. 




ST, JOHN'S CHURCH. 



116 



A large brand lodged in the highest 
part of the frame-work of the steeple 
and set it on fire. James Stantial, 
seeing the lodgement of the 
flaming wood, climbed to the dizzy 
height and hurled the brand to the 
ground. On May 31, 1855, the 
church was consecrated by the Right 
Rev. Horatio Potter, D. D.. LL. D., 
Provisional Bishop of New York. 
The sermon was preached by the 
Right Rev. Alonzo Potter, D. D.. 
Bishop of Pennsylvania. The red 
sandstone of the structure was ob- 
tained at the quarries of Portland, 
Conn. The length of the building, 
including the chancel, is 100 feet, the 
width 62 feet. The chapel at the east 
end of the church is 50 feet long and 
21 wide. The spire has an elevation 
of about 150 feet. Henry Dudley of 
New York was the architect of the 
beautiful structure. It cost about 
$50,000. In 1858, the stone spire 
was added to the tower, in memory 
of Miss Jane Porter Lincoln, a former 
member of the parish, by her mother, 
Mrs. Lincoln Phelps, of Baltimore, 
Md. In September, 1870, a chime of 
eleven bells was placed in the tower ; 
the gift of different members of the 
parish. In 1873-74, the chapel was 
enlarged. In the spring of 1S79, a 
new organ displaced the one given by 
Mrs. George M. Tibbits when the 
church was built. On the death of 
the Hon. Francis N. Mann, February 
8, 1880, the vestry, by his will, re- 
ceived $25,000, the interest of which 
is annually used for certain charitable 
purposes. In recent years, the church 
has been greatly enriched by many 
memorial gifts and special contribu- 
tions. The picture of St. John, on the 
chancel-wall, was erected to the mem- 
ory of Lillian Burdett, in 18S0, by her 
parents. The brass communion rail 
was the gift of Mrs. Cicero Price ; 
the chancel-floor of Minton tile 
that of the Legula.- Society ; the 



beautiful pulpit of polished brass, 
a duplicate of the one in old 
St. Stephen's church in Philadel- 
phia, that of W. Stone Smith, in 
memory of his deceased wife, Fannie 
Burdett Smith ; the carved, wooden, 
eagle-lectern that of Mrs. Cicero 
Price, in memory of her daughter Cora; 
the carved chancel-chair that of Uri 
Gilbert and wife, in memory of their 
son, Joseph L. Gilbert ; the stone font 
that of John H. Willard and wife, in 
memory of their son, John Hudson 
Willard. The brass on the wall, on 
the south side of the chancel, was 
erected by the vestry " in memory of 
Francis N. Mann, one of the founders 
and for fifty years a warden and ves- 
tryman of this parish. Born June 
19, 1802 ; died February 8, 1880." 
On the wall on the north side of the 
chancel is another brass, erected in 
memory of Thomas A. Tillinghast, 
a devout member and faithful officer 
of the church, who died June 10, 1879. 
Many of the departed dead of the 
parish have tokens of remembrance in 
the beautifully designed memorial 
windows of the church and Sunday- 
school rooms. 

The parsonage, on the northeast 
corner of First and Washington 
streets, was built in 1863. 

Rectors : John A. Hicks, May, 1831, 
to January, 1832; Herman Hooker, 
November, 1832, to September, 1833; 
Henry R. Judah, 1833 to 1836; Gor- 
don Winslow, September, 1836 to 
1837; Richard Cox, October, 1837, 
to May, 1844 ; William H. Walter, 
September, 1844, to April, 1846 ; A. 
B. Carter, May 30, 1846, to Septem- 
ber, 1847 ; Edward Lounsberry, Sep- 
tember, 1847, to March, 1854; Rich- 
ard Temple, July, 1854, to September, 
1856; J. Brinton Smith, December, 
1856, to February, 1859 ; Henry C. 
Potter, D. D., May, 1859, to May, 
1866. George H. Walsh, D. D., 
July 1S66, to May, 1876; Frank L. 



117 



Norton, D. D., November i, 1876, to 
August I, 1880 ; Thaddeus A. Snively, 
March i, 1881, to present time. 

Assistant ministers: James Caird, 
October, 1870, to January i, 1873 ; 
William M. Barker, 1877 to 1880; 
George F. Breed, 1S80; Hobart 
Cooke, February 5, 1SS2, to April i, 
1883 ; John B. Harding, 18S3 to 1884 ; 
Henry Macbeth, June 22, 1884, to 
October 22, 1S85; E. D. G. Tomp- 
kins, November, 1855, to present 
time. 

Christ Church is on the west 
side of North Second Street, between 
Bridge Avenue and Jacob Street. In 
May, 1836, a number of Episcopalians 
assembled at No. 35 King Street, 
the residence of Josiah Bouton, a com- 
municant of St. Paul's Church, and 
organized a Sunday-school. With an 
attendance of twenty-two scholars, the 
school began its sessions in the Fourth 
Ward Female Seminary, on the south- 
east corner of North Second and 
Jacob streets. In the fall of that year 
ihe number of scholars had increased 
to one hundred and seventy. They 
and the teachers attended in a body 
the Sunday morning services at St. 
Paul's Church, where they sat to- 
gether, in the north gallery. In No- 
vember, Sunday services began to be 
held in the Sunday-school room in the 
seminary, where the Rev. William F. 
Walker, afterwards rector of Christ 
Church, first officiated. Notice was 
then given that a meeting would be 
held there on December 3, to organ- 
ize a church to be incorporated accord- 
ing to the laws of the State of New 
York. On that day the male persons 
who had been worshipping in the 
seminary, on the southeast corner of 
North Second and Jacob streets, met 
and having made the Rev. William 
F. Walker, chairman, elected Elias 
Lasell, William Osborne, wardens ; 
William Heartt, Stephen Bouton, 



Ralph B. Roberts, Richard S. Bryan, 
William Gary, Thomas Grenell, Josiah 
Bouton, and Samuel Dauchy, vestry- 
men. As incorporated, the con- 
gregation obtained the title of 
" The Rector, Wardens, and Ves- 
trymen of Christ Church in the 
city of Troy." The Rev. William 
F. Walker was called to the rec- 
torship of the parish, and he, on De- 
cember 29, that year, began his min- 
istrations as rector of Christ Church. 
Stephen Warren, Jacob Bishop, and 
Josiah Kellogg having purchased the 
site of the church and the lots 
north and south of it, and tendered 
them to the vestry, subject to the pay- 
ment of the purchase money, the erec- 
tion of the present edifice was under- 
taken. On Thursday, May 10, 183S, 
the corner-stone of the building was 
laid by the Right Rev. Benjamin 
Tredwell Onderdonk. who, on Satur- 
day, June I, 1839, consecrated the ed- 
ifice. The building is octagonal in 
form, and 70 feet in diameter. As 
described at the time, it "is finished 
in a style remarkable for its conven- 
ience and neatness." In 1851, a rec- 
tory was built on King Street, imme- 
diately west of the chuich ; a part of 
the bequest of Mrs. Sarah Bradley be- 
ing used to pay the cost of its erection. 
The building was afterward sold and 
the amount of the money of the leg- 
acy used by the vestry to construct it 
was invested conformably to the pro- 
visions of the bequest. In 1867, 
the church was renovated and en- 
larged. A recessed chancel was built 
at the west side and, adjacent it, organ 
and vestry rooms. A part of the base- 
ment was refitted for the use of the 
Sunday-school. In 1871, a chorus 
choir was organized, and on January 
7, of the following year, the congre- 
gation adopted the free church sys- 
tem. The parish-house, adjoining the 
church, on the north, was erected in 
1882 ; mostly with the money of a 




CHRIST CHURCH. 



119 



legacy of $10,000, bequeathed by 
Jacob Jacobs, many years a ves- 
tryman of the church. That year, 
the interior of the church was 
greatly improved, refurnished and en- 
riched by a number of gifts, among 
which was the beautifully illuminated 
chancel window, on which is inscribed: 
"To the glory of God and in loving 
memory of Ann Bywater Cluett, en- 
tered into rest, January 30, 1876. 
This window is erected by her chil- 
dren." The carved oak altar, bearing 
the inscription: " In loving memory 
of our mother, Rebecca C. Kemp," 
the deceased wife of William Kemp, 
was given by her children. The brass 
lectern was the gift of Samuel C. 
Tappin and wife, at Easter, 1879. 
The reredos was presented by Mar- 
tha E. Kemp, wife of William Kemp, 
The sedilia were the offering of Mrs. 
James Morehead, to the memory of 
her sons. The brass communion rail 
was given by Mrs. Charles Clemin- 
shaw, and the brass coronas were con- 
tributed by her Bible class. The two 
illuminated windows at the sides of 
the chancel are in memory of North- 
rup J. Rockwell and his wife, Mary 
A. Rockwell, the offering of their 
niece, Mrs. George B. Cluett. 

Rectors : William F. Walker, De- 
cember 29, 1S36 to November 5, 
1839 ; Edward Ingersoll. March 16, 
1840 to June 2, 1842; Robert B. Fair- 
bairn, August 7, 1S43 to November 
14, 1848, (now warden of St. Stephen's 
College, Annand:ile, N. Y.) ; Thomas 
Alfred Starkey, February 27, 1850 to 
February i, 1S54, (made bishop of 
Northern New Jersey in 1880) ; James 
Mulchahey, March 30. 1854 to Octo- 
ber 4, i860 ; Eaton W. Maxcy, jr., 
April 14, 1S61 to July 12, 1864; 
Joseph N. Mulford, October 2, 1864 
to January i, 1S86 ; Eaton W. Maxcy, 
D. D., January 3, 1886 to present time. 

Assistant ministers : Rev. Edward 
D. Cooper, 1853 ; Hobart Cooke, 



1883 ; H. Ashton Henry, December 
I, 1884 to January I, 1886. 

Church of the Holy Cross is on 
the east side of Eighth Street, op- 
posite Grand Division Street. A Sat- 
urday sewing-school, organized about 
the year 1815, by Phebe Warren, the 
wife of Eliakim Warren, was sup- 
ported and conducted by her in St. 
Paul's parish until her death in 1835. 
Her daughter-in-law, Mary Warren, 
the wife of Nathan Warren, then 
took the management of the school, 
which, in 1839, she changed to a day- 
school. The charitable work she had 
undertaken suggested the erection of 
a free church, and she, by the advice 
of the Rev. Robert Boyd Van Kleeck, 
rector of St. Paul's Church, selected 
the site of the present edifice as a 
suitable location for the building. On 
St. Mark's day, April 25, 1844, the 
corner-stone was laid by the Right 
Rev. Benjamin Tredwell Onderdonk, 
Bishop of New York. On the leaden 
box, containing a copy of the Bible 
and one of the Book of Common 
Prayer, placed in the cavity of the 
corner-stone, was inscribed : " The 
church of the Holy Cross was founded 
in the year of grace, 1844, by Mary 
Warren, as a house of prayer for all 
people, without money and without 
price. Glory be to the Father, and 
to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. 
Amen." Services were held in the 
church for the first time on Christmas, 
1844. The building was consecrated 
by the Right Rev. William RoUinson 
Whittingham, Bishop of Maryland, on 
Wednesday, December 6. 1848. On 
the following morning. Bishop Whit- 
tingham admitted the Rev. John 
Ireland Tucker to the priesthood, 
who, as a deacon, had been officiating 
in the church from Christmas, 1844. 
Since that time he has continued his 
rectorship of the church through a 
period of forty-two years, the longest 



121 



term in which any Protestant clergy- 
man has served a church in Troy. 
The parsonage, on the north side of 
the church, was built in 1857. In 
1859, the church was enlarged by the 
addition of the ante-chapel, making the 
depth of the building about 104 feet. 
The school-building adjoining the 
church, on the south side, was erected 
shortly after the burning of the Van 
der Heyden mansion, on the south- 
west corner of Eighth and Grand 
Division streets, in the .great fire of 
May 10, 1862, in which building the 
school had been conducted a number 
of years. By the act passed by the leg- 
islature, March 19, 1846, the school was 
incorporated as "The Warren Free 
Institute of the city of Troy." 
The three buildings are of dressed 
stone, and add no little attractive- 
ness to that part of the city in 
which they are located. The 
chancel-picture, " The Taking Down 
from the Cross." was painted and pre- 
sented to the church by Professor R. 
W. Weir of West Point Academy. 
The stained windows, the organ, and 
the chime of six bells are the gifts of 
the children of Mary Warren. To 
her memory, a tablet on the west wall 
of the ante-chapel bears the following 
inscription : " This church, free to all 
people, was founded by Mary, widow 
of Nathan Warren, A. D., MDCCC 
XLIV. The ante-chapel, contem- 
plated by the founder, was built by 
her children as a memorial of their 
venerated mother, who, on the VIII 
day of February, A. D., MDCCCLIX, 
in the LXX year of her age entered 
■into that rest which remaineth to the 
people of God." The beautiful brass 
lectern was the gift, in 1S76, of 
Mary C. Warren, the wife of George 
Henry Warren of New York City, 
in memory of her mother, Mary 
Whitney Phcunix." The lectern is a 
facsimile of the one in Exeter Ca- 
thedral, England. The church is 



17 



one of the earliest of the free 
churches of the Episcopal communion 
in the United States, and first in it 
was introiluced the choral service, 
mainly through the influence and mu- 
nificence of Dr. Nathan B. Warren. 

Rector : John Ireland Tucker, 
D. D., from December 25, 1844, to 
the present time. 

St. Luke's Church is on the east 
side of Fourth Street, at its intersec- 
tion with First Street. At a meeting, 
held in Mechanics' Hall, at the Iron 
Works, on November 15, 1866, a 
number of persons interested in the 
establishment of an Episcopal church 
in that part of the city, appointed a 
committee to obtain the means to sup- 
port a clergyman and to defray the 
expenses of a new parish, which the 
projectors of it then determined to 
call St. Luke's. At a second meeting, 
at the same place, on November 20, 
that year, the different Episcopal 
churches in Troy having promised to 
contribute the sum of $900 to the 
mission, Frederick A. Stow and Wil- 
liam Shattock were elected church 
wardens, Charles W. Tillinghast, Ste- 
phen E. Warren, Peter Thalinier, 
George B. Smith, Robert Bainbridge, 
Thomas Edgley, Henry Evans, and 
Samuel Kirkbride, vestrymen. On 
December 19, the vestry were in- 
formed that John F. Winslow had 
tendered a plat of ground on the 
north side of Robert Bainbridge's 
house for the site of a church, 50 feet 
wide, or more, if needed. On March 
27. 1867, the Rev. E. S. Widdemer, 
who had, as a missionary, been min- 
istering to the congregation from Oc- 
tober, 1866, was called to take charge 
of the parish. The erection of the 
present stone edifice having been un- 
dertaken, it was dedicated by the 
Right Rev. William Croswell Doane, 
on September 27, 1870. The corner- 
stone of the chapel was laid August 
5, 1871. 



123 



Rectois : E. Soliday Widdemer, 
called March 27, 1867, resigned Sep- 
tember 27, 1870 ; George W. Shinn, 
called November 6, 1870, resigned 
September 6, 1873 ; Samuel E. Smith, 
called October 6, 1873, resigned June 
16, 1874 ; Daniel G. Anderson, called 
December 18, 1874, resigned Decem- 
ber 30, 1875 ; John W. H. Weibel, 
called March 22, 1876, resigned 
March 14, 1878 ; James B. Wasson, 
called July 28, 1878, resigned Octo- 
ber 5, 18S0 ; R. G. Hamilton, ac- 
cepted call October 13, 1880, resigned 
January 27, 1886. 

Free Church of the Ascension, 
on Ida Hill, south side of Congress 
Street, On Sunday evening, Feb- 
ruary 14. 1868, the Rev. George H. 
Walsh, D. D., rector of St. John's 
Church, organized, at the house of 
William Cox, on Ida Hill, St. 
John's Free Mission, with a mem- 
bership of forty-four persons. The 
Sunday-school of the mission was or- 
ganized on Friday evening, February 
19, and on Sunday, February 21, the 
school met for the first time, seven 
teachers and forty four scholars being 
present. The meetings of the mission 
were first held in a room in a build- 
ing in the rear of the Ida Hill cotton- 
mill. Afterward the mission occu- 
pied a part of the building, No. 326 
Congress Street, and later, the upper 
part of the house, No. 322 Congress 
Street, then standing on the present 
site of St. Francis's Roman Catholic 
Church. F. W. Farnam and wife. 
members of St. Paul's Church, 
having become interested in St. 
John's Free Mission, determined to 
erect an edifice for its membership, 
to be called The Free Church of the 
Ascension. The erection of the build- 
ing was undertaken, and on October 
19, 1869, the corner-stone was laid ; 
the Right Rev. William Croswell 
Doane, D. D., bishop of the diocese. 



officiating. On February 18, 1871, 
the church was consecrated, the bishop 
preaching from the text, Psalms xxiv, 7. 
The first Sunday service was held in 
the church on February 19, at 4 
o'clock, in the afternoon ; the Rev. 
James Caird, who had been in charge 
of the mission from the first Sunday 
of October, 1870, as an assistant to 
the rector of St. John's Church, 
taking part in the services ; the Rev, 
George H. Walsh, D. D., preaching 
the sermon. On January i, 1873, the 
parish became independent and self- 
sustaining ; the Rev. James Caird, 
rector. 

The architecture of the church is 
Gothic, the building cruciform, con- 
structed of blue-stone with free stone 
facings and copings. The length of 
the building is 94 feet, transept 56, 
nave 32. The chancel-window, con 
taining a representation of the ascen- 
sion of Christ, cost $1,000. The 
tower, 106 feet high, contains a chime 
of nine bells. M. F. Cummings, 
architect. Total cost of the building, 
$80,000. Sittings, 300. Certificate 
of incorporation filed, March 13, 1871. 

Rector : James Caird, January i, 
1873, to present time. 

St. Barnabas Chapel is on the 
west side of Vail Avenue, north of 
Middleburgh Street. In 1869, a mis- 
sion Sunday-school was organized in a 
building, on the north siHe of Renssel- 
aer Street, near River Street, by the 
Rev. Eliphalet N. Potter, D.D., associ- 
ate rector and some of the members 
of St. Paul's Church. At a meeting 
of St. Paul's vestry, November 9, that 
year, it was " resolved that the plan 
approved by the rector [the Rev. 
Thomas W. Coit, D. D., LL. D..] 
and proposed in a letter from the as- 
sociate rector, of beginning a chapel- 
enterprise in North Troy, to be ulti- 
mately located north of Rensselaer 
Street, or North Street, and to be 



123 



permanently connected with St. Paul's, 
the mother parish, is approved by the 
vestry, and that they hereby authorize 
the undertaking." Services on Sun- 
day were regularly begun ; the Rev. 
Richard S. Adams taking charge of 
the mission as an assistant minister of 
St. Paul's Church; the duties of which 
position he gratuitously performed 
until his resignation, July 5, 1870. 
During the winter of 1870-71, the 
Rev. William Green officiated at the 
niissioa. In the spring of 1871, John 
I. Thompson, a communicant of St. 
Paul's Church, who was connected 
with the mission Sunday-school, learn- 
ing that six lots, between Vail Ave- 
nue and Mount Street, were for sale, 
purchased them for a mission church, 
provided their location should be de- 
sired for one by those interested in 
the undertaking. The property was 
deemed eligible, and the title to it 
was conveyed to John I. Thompson, 
Henry B. Dauchy, and Walter P. War- 
ren, as trustees of St. Paul's Free 
Chapel, on July i, 1871. The owner 
of the lots, Warren E. Cheney, con- 
tributed to the mission $200 of the 
$7,000 paid for them The property 
comprised two lots, with a brick 
building, on the northeast corner of 
Mount and Middleburgh streets, two 
on the west side of Vail Avenue, and 
two west of them on the east side of 
Mount Street. A frame building, 
with sittings for 250 people, was 
erected, on the Vail Avenue lots, at a 
cost of $3,300; the corner-stone hav- 
ing been laid on St. Matthew's Day, 
1871, by the Right Rev. William 
Croswell Doane. The chapel was 
opened for divine service on Christmas 
Eve, that year. The Rev. Walker 
Gwynne, as an assistant minister of 
St. Paul's Church, officiated at the 
chapel from October, 1872, until his 
resignation, March i, 1S76. On April 
I, 1876, John I. Thompson, Henry 
B. Dauchy, and Walter P. Warren, 



acting as trustees of St. Paul's Free 
Chapel, conveyed the property to the 
trustees of St. Paul's Church ; the 
former having been appointed by St. 
Paul's vestry, on March 20, that year, 
to manage the temporal affairs of the 
chapel. The Rev. William C. Prout 
officiated as an assistant minister of 
St. Paul's Church at the chapel from 
July 15, 1876 to June i6, 1879. He 
was succeeded by the Rev. Pelham 
Williams, S. T. D., as an assistant 
minister of St. Paul's Church, who 
officiated from December 21, 1879 to 
January 6, 1881. On Saturday, Jan- 
uary 22, 1881, the committee of St. 
Paul's Church, John I. Thompson, 
Joseph W. Fuller, and James For- 
syth, having the management of the 
affairs of St. Paul's Free Chapel, was 
discharged by St. Paul's vestry. The 
latter, on February 7, 1S83, consented 
to the change of the name of St. Paul's 
Free Chapel to that of St. Barnabas 
Chapel. The Rev. Pelham Williams, 
S. T. D., having been appointed by 
the bishop of the diocese, in January, 
1881, missionary at St. Paul's Free 
Chapel, still officiates in that position 
at St. Barnabas Chapel. 

Evangelical Church. — 

St. Paul's Evangelical Church, 
is on the southwest corner of Seventh 
and Fulton streets. The society was 
organized in Green's Building, on the 
southeast corner of Broadway and 
Fourth Street, November 10, 1879. 
In February, 1885, the house of wor- 
ship belonging to the Church of 
Christ, on the southwest corner of 
Seventh and Fulton streets, was pur- 
chased, and, on May 3, that year, the 
first services of the society were held 
in it. Sittings, 400. The member- 
ship includes about 60 families, or 
about I20 individuals. 

Pastors: William V. Gerichten, 
two years ; Victor Broesel, one and 



124 



three-quarter years ; E. Seeger, De- 
cember 3, 1883, to present time. 

Executions of Murderers.— 

The first execution of a murderer 
in Rensselaer County was that of 
Winslow Russell, for killing Michael 
Backus. The homicide was hung in 
Troy, on July ig, 1811, on the south 
side of Congress Street, opposite 
Eighth Street. In accordance with 
the sentence, his body " was given to 
the physicians for dissection." A 
large concourse of people witnessed 
the execution. The last public exe- 
cution in Troy took place on the side 
of the hill, west of the site of the Pro- 
vincial Seminary, on November 14, 
1834. Thomas Harty was hung then 
for the murder of his wife, whom he 
killed with an axe while she was cook- 
ing his breakfast in the house in which 
they were living, at the intersection of 
Fourth and Hill streets. On January 
28, 1845, William Miller, a German, 
was hung in the hall of the upper 
story of the jail, in the presence of 
the sheriff and about fifty citizens, for 
the murder of George West at Sand- 
lake. Henry G. Green, convicted 
of poisoning his wife was executed 
in the jail on Wednesday, Septem- 
ber 10, 1845. On Thursday, March 
15, 1849, Andreas Hall, for the 
murder of Mrs. Amy Smith of 
Petersburgh, and Barney O'Donnell, 
for the murder of Antonio Ratto, an 
Italian, at Petersburgh, were hung in 
the jail. Hiram Coon was hung at 
the jail, on March 22, 1867, for the 
murder of Mrs. Henry Laker of Pe- 
tersburgh. On August 13, 1S85, at 
io;3i A. M., James Horace Jones was 
hung in the jail for shooting his wife, 
July 3, 1884, in his saloon, at No. 124 
Fourth Street. 

Farnam Institute, on Ida Hill, 
north side of Congress Street, was 



erected in 1872, by F. W. Far- 
nam, at a cost of about $25,000. 
It is 84 feet long, 31 wide, 46 high. 
The tower contains a clock and bell. 
The lower room is used for parish 
school purposes, and the upper rooms 
are used by the members of the 
Free Church of the Ascension for so- 
cial gatherings. Architect, M. F. 
Cummings. 

Perries. — There are four ferries 
crossing the river in front of the city. 
The first, established about two cen- 
turies ago, was at an early day called 
Van der Heyden's Ferry. When tlie 
New England emigrants began to set- 
tle on the site of Troy, in 1786, the 
place was designated Ferry Hook. 
Among the number of settlers was 
Captain Stephen Ashley, of Salisbury, 
Conn., who kept a tavern in the old 
Van der Heyden house, on the south- 
east corner of River and Division 
streets. He had charge of the ferry 
for several years, which then was 
known as Ashley's Ferry. On May 
10, 1788, when Captain Ashley in- 
tended to occupy another building as 
a tavern, near the northeast corner of 
River and Ferry streets, the following 
advertisement appeared in the Federal 
He7-ald, printed in Lansingburgh : 

" The subscriber respectfully in- 
forms the public that as ihe time for 
which he leased his ferry to Captain 
S. Ashley hath expired, he proposes 
to exert himself in expediting the 
crossing of those who may please to 
take passage in his boat, which will 
ever be in readiness directly opposite 
the house at present occupied by said 
Ashley. The terms of crossing will 
be as moderate as can reasonably be 
expected, and a considerable allow- 
ance made to those who contract for 
the season. 

" He has in contemplation to com- 
mence keeping tavern in a few weeks 
from the date hereof, Avhen no exer- 



125 



tions of his shall l^e wanting to ac- 
commodate those who shall resort the 
house from which Mr. Ashley will 
shortly remove. Matthise Vander- 
heyden. 

" N. B. — Notice for crossing will 
be given by sounding a conch-shell a 
few minutes before the boat starts." 

The charge for ferrying a wagon 
and horses was is.6d.; for a man and 
horse, 6d.; for a person, 3d. 

In May, 179S, Mahlon Taylor es- 
tablished the lower ferry. 

The first ferry boats were large, 
flat-bottomed scows, propelled by iron- 
pointed poles. Some years after the 
beginning of the present century, the 
boats were attached to lopes stretched 
across the river, and were driven by 
the force of the current from one land- 
ing to the other. Later the boat ply- 
ing across the river at Ferry Street 
was propelled by machinery. Profes- 
sor Benjamin Silliman, in 1819, on 
his way to Quebec, gave this descrip- 
tion of it: 

"A platform covers a wide, flat boat. 
Underneath the platform, there is a 
large horizontal solid wheel, which 
extends to the sides of the boat ; and 
there the platform or deck is cut 
through, and removed, so as to afford 
sufficient room for two horses to stand 
on the flat surface of the wheel, one 
horse on each side and parallel to the 
gunwale of the boat. The horses are 
harnessed in the usual manner for 
teams, the whiflletrees being attached 
to stout iron bars, fixed horizontally, 
at a proper height into posts, which 
are a part of the fixed portion of the 
boat. The horses look in opposite 
directions, one to the bow and the 
other to the stern ; their feet take 
hold of channels or giooves cut in the 
wheels, in the direction of radii ; 
they press forward, and though they 
advance not, any more than a squirrel 
in a revolving cage, or than a spit dog 
at his work, their feet cause the hori- 



zontal wheel to revolve, in a direc- 
tion opposite to that of their own ap- 
parent motion ; this by a connection 
of cogs, moves vertical wheels, one 
on each wing of the boat, and these, 
being constructed like the paddle 
wheels of steamboats, produce the 
same effect, and propel the boat for- 
ward. The horses are covered by a 
roof, furnished with curtains, to pro- 
tect them in bad weather ; they do 
not appear to labor harder than com- 
mon draft horses with a heavy load. 
The inventor of this boat is a Mr. 
Langdon, of Whitehall, and it claims 
important advantages of simplicity 
cheapness, and effect." 

In 1S54, by a decision of the Su- 
preme Court, the exclusive privilege 
of possessing the ferry rights by the 
Vanderheyden heirs and their succes- 
sors was annulled, and the right to re- 
ceive tolls by those maintaining the 
ferries became a state franchise. Not 
long afterward the horse-boat was dis- 
continued at the Ferry Street ferry. 
Some years earlier, a ferry was estab- 
lished at the foot of Broadway ; the 
landing on the west side of the river 
being at the south end of Green 
Island. On Friday morning, October 
13, 1854, the skiff plying between 
Troy and Green Island capsized near 
the middle of the river, with seven- 
teen persons on board. Many of 
them could not swim, and eleven 
were drowned. The accident was 
caused by the persons on board 
rising to prevent water from the swells 
caused by the steamer Alice from en- 
tering the boat. 

The fourth ferry, at the foot of 
Douw Street, having its landing at 
the foot of Tibbits Street, Green 
Island, was established after the con- 
struction of the State Dam. At each 
of the four ferries small steamboats 
ply from an early hour in the morning 
until a late one at night, and carry 
only foot passengers. The south ferry 



126 



has its landing at the west side of the 
Clinton Stove Works. 



Fire Alarms. — In the village 

days of Troy, alarms of fire were 
given by repeated vociferations of the 
word, hre, and by the rapid ringing 
of the court-house bell. When the 
place became a city, the only new 
feature was the ringing of certain 
church bells and engine house bells. 
On December 5, 1867, the fire com- 
missioners adopted the system of indi 
eating the district in which the fire 
was by tolling the number of the 
district on the fire bells ; the city being 
divided into five districts ; West 
Troy, Green Island, and Center Island 
forming a sixth district. The ringing 
of alarms and the tolling of the dis- 
tricts were intrusted to the patrol- 
men of the Capitol Police. In the 
fall of 1868, the common council con- 
tracted for the construction, in the city, 
of the fire telegraph system of Game- 
well & Co. On March 25, 1869, it 
was completed, having forty-three sig- 
nal stations ; the signal number being 
struck on St. Paul's, St. Mary's and 
St. Peter's church bells. There are 
now seventy-one signal stations, two 
of which are duplicates : 

3 Glen Avenue and River St. 

4 Douw and River Sts. 

5 Oakwood Av. and Elm St. 

6 Middleburgh and Ninth Sts. 
8 Eddy Steamer House. 

12 Ninth St., near North Adams. ^ 

13 Jay and River Sts. 

14 Troy and Boston Freight House. 

15 Oakwood Ave. Foundry. 

16 Hoosick and North Second Sts. 

17 Hoosick and Eighth Sts. 
21 Hutton and River Sts. 

23 Hutton and North Third Sts. 

24 Hutton and Ninth Sts. 

25 Eagle and Twelfth Sts. 

31 Jacob and King Sts. 

32 Jacob and Eighth Sts. 



34 Federal and River Sts. 

35 Federal and North Fourth Sts. 

36 Grand Division and N. Third Sts 

37 Grand Division and Eighth Sts. 

41 Fulton and River Sts. 

42 Fulton and Fifth Sts. 

43 Broadway and Second St. 

45 Broadway and Fourth St. 

46 Broadway and Seventh St. 

51 State and River Sts. 

52 State & Third Sts., Read House. 

53 State and Union Sts. 

54 Congress and Second Sts. 

56 Congress and Fourth Sts. 

57 Congress and Seventh Sts. 

58 Congress and Farm Sts. 

61 Ferry and River Sts. 

62 Ferry and Fifth Sts. 

63 Division and Third Sts. 
73 Gilbert Car Works, G. I. 

121 Libeity and River Sts. 

122 Liberty and Second Sts. 

123 Liberty and Fifth Sts. 

124 Adams and River Sts. 

125 Adams & Second, Osgood H'se. 

126 Adams, near Fourth St. 

131 Ida and Second Sts. 

132 Jefferson and Sixth Sts. 

133 Spring Ave. and Infirmary Road. 

134 Madison and River Sts. 

135 Madison and Third Sts. 

136 Monroe and First Sts. 

137 Catholic Male Orphan Asylum. 

141 Jackson and Third Sts. 

142 Harrison and Second Sts. 

144 Second and Fourth Sts. 

145 Burden's Steam Mill. 

146 Fourth and Mill Sts. 

151 Bessemer Steel Works. 

152 Stanton Steamer House. 

153 Burden's Water Mill. 

154 Campbell Highway. 

155 Campbell H'y and Spring Av. 

156 County House. 

161 Thirteenth and South Sts. 

162 Fourteenth and Congress Sts. 

163 Tompkins's Machine Shop. 

164 Brunswick Av. and Congress St. 

165 Brunswick and Highland Avs. 

166 Marshall Infirmary. 



127 



171 Pawling and Maple A vs. 

172 Pawling Av. & Wash. St., Albia. 
Alarms of fire are sounded by strik- 
ing the number of the signal station 
on St. Paul's, St. Joseph's, St. Mary's, 
St. Patrick's, and St. Peter's church 
bells and the gongs in the engine 
houses. Three consecutive strokes, 
followed by an interval of twelve 
seconds, signifies that the alarm was 
given at box 3, at the corner of Glen 
Avenue and River Street ; three 
strokes, with an interval of five sec- 
onds, followed by five strokes, signifies 
box 35, at the corner of Federal and 
North Fourth streets ; one stroke, with 
an interval of five seconds, then seven 
strokes, with an interval of five sec- 
onds, then two strokes, signifies box 
172, at Albia. The number of the 
box is repeated after intervals of 
twelve seconds. 

One stroke indicates that the fire is 
extinguished or under control. Two 
strokes repeated four times, with 
intervals of twelve seconds between 
each two, form a call-signal for the 
chief engineer and assistant engineers 
to repair to the chief engineer's office 
at the Arba Read engine-house. Ten 
strokes call all the engines and hose 
carriages to the fire, of which an 
alarm has been previously sounded. 
Andrew D. Collins was superintend- 
ent of the fire alarm telegraph from 
1869 to November, 1S83, since which 
time James Knibbs has been superin- 
tendent of it. 



Fire Department, Troy. — 

The earliest known measures taken to 
establish a fire department by the 
trustees of the village of Troy were 
those consequent upon the act passed 
by the legislature March 25, 1794, 
authorizing ihe trustees " to compel 
the housekeepers " to provide them- 
selves with a sufficient number of fire- 
buckets and the necessary tools and 



implements to extinguish fires, and to 
impose such fines on the negligent as 
the majority of the freeholders should 
deem proper, no fine to exceed 
forty shillings. The trustees were to 
elect " with all convenient speed " a 
a number of firemen, not to exceed 
fifteen, to have the care and manage- 
ment of the fire-engine. It was not 
until 1798 that the organization of the 
village fire department was under- 
taken. Then Benjamin Covell, Moses 
Vail, David Buel, George Tibbits, 
Daniel Merritt, and Ebenezer Jones 
were appointed fire wardens, who had 
control of the firemen and the fire ap- 
paratus, and wore when present at 
fires white covers on their hats and 
carried white rods in their hands as 
designations of their official authority 
on such occasions. The company, 
known afterward as 

Premier Engine Company, was 
organized in 1798, with the following 
members : Henry Bayner, Joseph 
Brintnall, Silas Covell, Stephen Co- 
vell, Jonathan Davis, Simon Good- 
win, Jacob A. Hart, Richard P. Hart, 
Stephen H. Herrick, Isaac Merritt, 
Leonard Reed, Amos Salisbury, and 
Henry Townsend. That year a sec- 
ond-hand fire-engine was purchased 
in New York by the trustees. It had 
a water-trough about nine feet long, 
twenty inches high, and thirty wide, 
on which was an upright box, about 
three feet high, in which were pipes 
and valves. Through a goose-neck 
pipe, protruding from the top of the 
box, water was forced from the trough 
by treadles and brakes. A stream an 
inch and a half in diameter could be 
thrown from the engine upon the roof 
of any two-story building near it. 
The engine was drawn on four wooden 
wheels, each a foot and a half in di- 
ameter, sawn from a thick oaken 
plank, and hooped with iron. 

The property-holders were required 
by the fire ordinance to have hanging 



128 



in an accessible part of their dwellings 
and places of business two leathern 
buckets, each having the owner's 
name and a designating number 
painted on it. The capable men of 
the village were instructed to deport 
themselves at the time of a fire in the 
following manner by the village news- 
paper : First, seize the fire-buckets 
immediately, and repair to the spot; 
let the mind be as composed as possi- 
ble, and at the same time behave with 
the greatest activity and energy. 
Second, those who live most contigu- 
ous to the engine, together with the 
firemen, should immediately repair to 
it, and have the engine under way, 
also the fire-hooks, and ladders, and 
axes, to be on the spot at the same 
instant, and when at the place of ac- 
tion, there ought to be the most pro- 
found silence observed, except from 
the trustees and fire-wardens." 

The first engine-house of the first 
company was a small structure of 
boards on the south side of the court- 
house, on Second Street. (See page 
87.) In later years the engine-house 
was a building designated as No. 21 
State Street. The last engine belong- 
inor to the company was a third-class 
one, piano style, built by A. Van Ness, 
in 1850. The company was discon- 
tinued from service August 23, i86r, 
and disbanded, September 5, that 
year. 

While the first market-house was 
standing in State Street, between 
First and Second Streets, from 1800 
to 1806, the fire-ladders and hooks 
hung on the south and north sides of 
of the building. The second fire- 
company, known as 

Neptune Engine Company No. 2 
was organized, June 20, 1803. Its 
last engine was built by S. Davis & 
Son, Troy, in 1850; the engine-house 
being at No. 23 State Street. The 
company was discontinued in August, 
1 86 1, and disbanded September 5, that 



year. The company paid the tuition 
of a large number of children attend- 
ing the Lancasterian and other schools 
in the city. The names of 279 schol- 
ars who thus gratuitously received in- 
struction appear on the records of the 
company. 

Washington Volunteer Fire 
Company, an independent organiza- 
tion, was incorporated May 26, 1812. 
(See Washington Volunteer Fire 
Company). 

Engine Company No. 3 was or- 
ganized February i, 1821. It was 
changed to a hose company, Decem- 
ber, 1834, and became the Franklin 
Hose Company. 

Engine Company No. 4 was or- 
ganized January 6, 1825. It was 
changed to a hose company. October 
7, 1S37, subsequently known as Eagle 
Hose Company, No. 10. On July 3, 
1845, it again became an engine 
company, known as Eagle En- 
gine Company No. 10. On Septem- 
ber 16, 1847, all the members re- 
signed. It was re-organized. March 
14, 1S48, under the same name. (See 
Eagle Engine Company No. 10). 

Torrent Engine Company No. 4 
was organized August 2, 1838. The 
company disbanded, May 20, 1841, 
and was re-organized, September i, 
1S42. Again it disbanded, August 3, 
1843, and was reorganized. November 
2, 1843. The company was discon- 
tinued, in August, 1861, and dis- 
banded, September 5, that year. Its; 
engine-house was on Congress Street, . 
Ida Hill, 

Empire State Engine Company' 
No. 5 was organized March i, i82t. 
Its last engine was built, in 1S51, by 
John Rogers, Albany. The engine- 
house was at the Iron Works. (See 
Edmond Stanton Steam Fire En- 
gine Company No. 6.) 




iS 



130 



Hope Engine Company No. 6 was 
organized May 20, 1826. Its engine- 
house was in Albia, on the northwest 
corner of Brunswick Avenue and 
Washington Street. (See Hope Steam 
Fire Engine Company No. 7.) 

Niagara Engine Company No. 7 
was organized May 27, 1828. Its last 
engine was made by Jeffers, Paw- 
tucket, R. I., in 1857. The engine- 
house was No. 134 Second Street. 
(See Jason C. Osgood Steam Fire 
Engine Company No. 3.) 

Cataract Engine Company No. 8 
was organized August 2, 1832. It 
was disbanded September 10, 1851, 
but was leorganized and remained in 
service until September 5, i86r, when 
it disbanded. Its last engine was 
built by W. E. Worth, Albany. The 
engine-house was at No. 12 Federal 
Street, in the same building with 
Eagle Engine No. 10. 

Rough and Ready Engine Com- 
pany No. 9 was organized September 
21, 1837, as Hydraulic Engine Com- 
pany No. 9. In 1863, it took the name 
of Rough and Ready Engine Company 
No. g. Its last engine was made 
by Hunneman, Boston, Mass.. and 
was housed at No. 9 River Street, 
near the State Dam. In 1865, the 
company was reorganized as Rough 
and Ready Hose Company No. 4. 
(See Charles Eddy Steam Fire 
Engine Company No. 4.) 

Lafayette Engine Company No. 
10 was organized August 15, 1839. 
Its last engine was built by Jeffers. 
Its engine-house was on Ida Hill. 
(See F. W. Farnam Steam Fire En- 
gine Company No. 5.) 

Eagle Engine Company No. 10 
was organized July 13, 1845. On 
September 16, 1847, the members 
resigned. The 'company was re- 
organized March 14, 1848. ^On De- 



cember 20, i860, the company became 
Eagle Steam Fire Engine Company 
No. 2. (See Hui;h Ranken Steam 
Fire Engine Company No. 2.) The 
company's last hand- engine was built 
by Tarboss & Co. It was housed at 
No. 14 Federal Street. 

^tna Engine Company No. 12 
was organized in 1846, and in 1857 
became 

Hibernia Engine Company No. 
12. Its engine was housed on Madi- 
son Street. The company was dis- 
continued in 1863. 

Good Intent Engine Company 
Company No. 13, an independent 
organization, was formed in 1850, and 
discontinued in 1856. Its engine- 
house was on Batavia Street. 

Franklin Hose Company No. i 
was organized December 18, 1834, 
from Engine Company No. 3. On 
January i, 1835, it took the name of 
Franklin Hose Company No. i. The 
hose-house was in Franklin Street, 
near the courthouse. 

Phci;nix Hose Company, organi- 
zed in 1840, was discontinued in 1851. 

General Wool Hose Company 
No. 2, organized February i, 1859, 
was discontinued in 1861. The hose- 
house was at No. 19 State Street. 

Union Hose Company No. 3, 
organized February I, 1859, existed 
about one year. The hose-house was 
at No. 7 Hoosick Street. 

Hall Hose Company, organized 
December, 1859, was discontinued, 
January i, 1871. 

J. C. Taylor Hose Company No. 
3 was formed in i860. (See Charles 
Eddy Steam Fire Engine Company 
No. 4.) 



131 



Hook and Ladder Company No. 
I, organized February i6, 1826, was 
discontinued, in 1857. 

Union Hook and Ladder Com- 
pany No. 2, organized, April 5, 1832, 
was discontinued in 1874. The hose- 
house was at the Iron Works. 

Trojan Hook and Ladder Com- 
pany No. 3, organized February 5, 
1835. (See Trojan Hook an:d Lad- 
der Company No. 3), i^ost id. 

In 1S31, the apparatus of the Troy 
fire department comprised 8 fire en- 
gines, 5 hose carts, with 2,200 feet of 
hose, I hook and ladder truck, with 5 
ladders, 6 hooks, 8 axes and 31 fire 
buckets. The membership of the five 
companies and of the hook and ladder 
company included 275 men. 

The department, on March 10, 
1859, consisted of 5 engines, 461 
members of engine companies, go 
members of hose companies, 83 mem- 
bers of the hook and ladder com- 
panies ; total members, 634. There 
were 12 engine companies, each hav- 
ing a hose tender, 3 hose companies, 
and 2 hook and ladder companies. 
There were 8,000 feet of hose in use. 

On April 13, 1 861, the act was 
passed by the legislature " to organize 
a fire department and board of fire 
commissioners in and for the city of 
Troy." As constituted by the act, 
the board of fire comissioners consists 
of seven persons, one of whom is the 
mayor of the city, ex-officio^ the six 
being elected by the common council, 
to serve for six years. On the first 
Monday in December of each year a 
fire commissioner is elected by the 
comm.on council. The board appoints 
the chief engineer and his assistants, 
who, under the direction of the com- 
missioners, control and command the 
firemen of the city. The office of the 
fire commissioners is on the third floor 
of the Arba Read engine-house, on 



the northwest corner of Third and 
State streets. The first commission- 
ers, designated in the act of April 13, 
1861, were Jason C. Osgood, Jonas C. 
Heartt, Isaac VV. Crissey, Otis G. 
Clark, William Gurley, and Hugh 
Ranken. When the board assumed 
control of the fire department, on 
May I, 1861, it consisted of two 
steam-engine companies, eleven hand- 
engine companies, three hose compa- 
nies, and two hook and ladder com- 
panies. In their first report, the com- 
missioners adverted to the demoraliza- 
tion caused by the use of hand engines: 
" The spirit of emulation among rival 
companies had been carried to such a 
pitch that serious disputes character- 
ized every fire ; and a committee of 
the common council found busy occu- 
pation in acting as judges and media- 
tors. The most annoying offshoot of 
this competition was the system of 
false alarms, which were of daily, and 
more than nightly occurrence. Be- 
yond the disturbance and expenses 
of such breaches of discipline, several 
fires were allowed to attain alarming 
headway and entail severe losses, in 
consequence of many efficient mem- 
bers and companies of the fire depart- 
ment having regarded the alarms 
sounded as false, as so many at that 
time were. Persons residing near en- 
gine houses were loud in their com- 
plaints of riotous conduct therein and 
thereabouts. In fact, the fire depart- 
ment had begun to be regarded in the 
light of a great social evil, as the re- 
sult of the presence of improper men 
and boys who were suffered to connect 
themselves with a few of the compa- 
nies. * * * Formerly intoxica- 
ting drinks were served from the decks 
of engines without arresting even a 
word of censure. The fire depart- 
ment has ceased to be regarded as a 
training school 'for rowdyism." 

The companies of the present de- 
partment embrace the following : 



132 



Washington Volunteer Fire 
Company. The company was organ- 
izea May 26, 1812. By the petition 
of Leonard Reed, Jeremiah Dauchy, 
Russell W. Lewis, George Vail, Han- 
ford N. Lockwood, and others, the 
company was incorporated by an act 
of the legislature passed May 26, 
1 812. The company was permitted 
to hold property not exceeding the 
value of fifteen hundred dollars ; the 
stock being divided into twenty-five 
shares, each having the value of sixty- 
two dollars and filty cents, one share 
being held by each member of the 
company ; the number of members 
being twenty-five. An engine was ob- 
tained from Abel Hardenbrook of 
New York, for 8550, similar to the 
goose-neck engines of the period, with 
a suction, and having a hose-reel on 
the top. An engine-house was 
built on the lot granted the 
company by Derick Van der Hey- 
den, on the west side of Fourth 
Street, about seventy-five feet north 
of Fulton Street. The engine was 
housed after April, 1820, in the build- 
ing on the market-house lot, now the 
site of the Arba Read sleamer house. 
During the great fire of Tuesday after- 
noon, June 20, 1820, the engine nar- 
rowly escaped burning while drawn 
along River Street to State Street. 
For nearly a week it was in service 
playing water on the smouldering 
ruins. In 1823, the engine was kept 
in a house on the ship-yard, now the 
site of Fulton Market. In 1824, it 
was again housed on the northwest 
corner of Third and State streets. 
In 1843, the hose reel was removed 
from the engine, which was then re- 
paired and repainted. A picture of 
Thetis weeping over the dead body of 
Achilles, and one of ancient Troy burn- 
ing in the distance, were painted on 
the engine by A. B. Moore. In De- 
cember, 1843, the apparatus was 
placed in the new brick engine-house 



on the site of the Second Precinct Sta- 
tion House, on State Street. In De- 
cember of the following year, the en- 
gine was sold to the trustees of Union 
Village, for $280, and the apparatus 
of Company No. 7 of Albany pur- 
chased for $400. The latter is de- 
scribed as the first piano-deck en- 
gine owned in Troy, having been 
built by John Rogers of Albany. 
In 1851, it was sold for $500, and a 
new one, made by Silas Davis & Son 
of Troy, was purchased in November 
of that year. Sixty men could find 
positions at the brakes, but the ap- 
paratus having been found too heavy 
for use, it was sold with the hose-cart, 
in October, 1854, to the city of Fon- 
du-Lac, Wisconsin, for $1,200. In 
1855, a new engine, made by L. But- 
ton & Co., of Waterford, was pur- 
chased, the box, a mahogany one, being 
set on springs. On April 19, 1864, the 
company received a steam fire-engine, 
made by Button & Blake of Water- 
ford, the cost of which was $2,150. 
The hand-engine was sold to the vil- 
lage of Trumansburgh, Tompkins 
County, N. Y., for $1,000. The com- 
pany made overtures to the fire com- 
missioners for the appointment and 
payment of an engineer for the steam- 
er, but they were not accepted. Wil- 
liam Bailey was then made engineer 
by the company, who held the posi- 
tion until April 15, 1867, when he 
was appointed engineer of the Ranken 
steamer. Jerome E. DeFreest suc- 
ceeded him, and still retains the office. 
On August 2, 1865. the engine-house 
on State Street having been transfered 
to the use of the Capital Police, the 
steamer was taken to the old 
Franklin Hose Company's house, 
on the west side of the alley, 
at the rear of the court-house. 
On March 22, 186S, the fire commis- 
sioners agreed to pay the company 
annually, from May i, 1865, the sum 
of $650 to meet its current expenses. 



133 



On October 20, 1867, the engineer of 
the steamer was placed under full pay 
by the Troy fire department. On 
December 31, 1872, the company 
occupied its two story, brick house, on 
the northeast corner of Third and 
Division streets. In December, 1874, 
a team of horses was purchased for 
the company, which previously had 
drawn its engines by hand. On the 
morning of July 20, 1876, five mem- 
bers of the company were drowned iu 
the Hudson, below the Iron Works, 
by the sinking of the steam- 
yacht Stella, caused by swells 
from the steamboat City of Troy: 
George E. Broomfield, Jonas C. 
Faulkner, A. Gregory Fox, Thomas 
Edgley, and Henry Maynicke. The 
first officers of the company were 
Hezekiah Williams, captain ; Russell 
W. Lewis, treasurer ; and Henry 
Nazro, secretary. 

Present number of officers and mem- 
bers, 65. 

Captains : Hezekiah Williams, 1812; 
Russell W. Lewis, 1813-1814; Heze- 
kiah Williams, 1815-1829 ; Robert D. 
Silliman, 1830-34; G. V. S. Quacken- 
enbush, 1835-37 i Charles W. Corn- 
ing, 1838-39 ; John T. McCoun, 1840 ; 
James Corning, 1841-43 ; E. Thomp- 
son Gale, 1844, to May, 1849 ; Charles 
W. Tillinghast, from May, 1849; 
James H. Congdon, 1850; William 
E. Hagan, 1851 ; Gerrit Quacken- 
bush, 1852; S. Nelson Derrick, 1853; 
Alfred A. Wotkyns, 1854 ; Calvin S. 
Sill, 1855; Lewis A. Rousseau, 1856; 
Richard F. Hall, 1857-58 ; Nathan 
Dauchy, 2d. 1859-60 ; Richard F. 
Hall, i860 66; William E Gilbert, 
1866 ; J. Lansing Lane, 1867-74 ; A. 
N. Sage, 1874-76 ; Henry Collings, 
1877 ; Elias P. Mann, 1878-79 ; John 
A. Brannan, 1880-81 ; Henry Col- 
lings, 1882-86. 

Arba Read Steam Fire-Engine 
Company No. i. The purchase of a 
steam fire-engine, having for some time 



been discussed by some of the citizens 
of Troy, a paper containing the fol- 
low ing agreement was circulated in 
the fall of 1859 • " Fo'' the purpose of 
demonstrating the feasibility of using 
steam apparatus for service in extin- 
guishing fires in the city of Troy, the 
undersigned associate themselves to 
form a company for the purpose of 
purchasing and putting into effective 
use a good and efficient steam fire- 
engine ; such a company to be organ- 
ized distinct from the present fiie de- 
partment ; to control its own affairs 
and select its own officers when or- 
ganized ; all property purchased by 
them to be the property of the associ- 
ation and subject to their govern- 
ment." Lee & Lamed, manufacturers 
of steam fire engines in New York, 
having been requested to exhibit in 
the city an engine made by them, sent 
by the Francis Skiddy a light steam 
fire-engine designed to be drawn by 
men or horses. On Monday morning, 
November 7, 1859, ^^ reached the city 
and was drawn to Washington Square, 
where it remained until noon, and was 
inspected by a large number of peo- 
ple. Then it was taken to the wharf 
at Division Street, where it was tested. 
Meanwhile many signatures were sub- 
scribed to the circulated paper, and a 
considerable sum of money promised 
to buy a steam fire-engine. On No- 
vember 23. a committee was appointed 
to visit Boston, New York, and Phila- 
delphia to examine the steamers used 
in those cities and to report upon the 
best to be obtained. On December 
13, the committee reported and was 
authorized to purchase an engine. On 
the following day the contract for 
making one was given to the Amos- 
keag Manufacturing Company of Man- 
chester, N. H. On December 19, the 
constitution and by-laws of the Arba 
Read Steam Fire Engine Company 
were adopted. On Monday night, 
January 9, i860, the following persons 



134 



were elected[its officers : William Bar- 
ton, president ; Lewis L. Southwick, 
vice president ; William T. Willard, 
secretary ; Townsend M. Vail, treas- 
urer; Nathaniel B. Slarbuck, captain; 
Edward H. Chapin, first assistant ; 
Elam N. Buel, second assistant ; Eli- 
jah W. Stoddard, third assistant. On 
March 28, the Arba Read steamer ar- 
rived by the Troy and Greenbush 
Railroad, and on the following day a 
public trial of the engine was made 
on the wharf, west of Fuller, Warren, 
& Co.'s store. The engine-house, 
next north of the company's present 
one, on the northwest corner of Third 
and State streets, was built in i860, 
and the steamer was placed in it. 
The " law relating to the establish- 
ment and organization of a steam fire- 
company of the city of Troy " passed 
by the common council, February 16, 
i860, designated the members of the 
Arba Read Steam Fire Engine Com- 
pany No. I as firemen of the city, lim- 
iting their number to sixty persons, 
and permitting the company to man- 
age its own affairs under the supervi- 
sion of the mayor, or, in his absence 
from the city, under that of the alder- 
men of the ward in which the com- 
pany was on duty. The last provision 
was made to protect the company from 
any malevolent acts of the hand en- 
gine companies hostile to the organi- 
zation of a steam fire-engine company. 
On May 24, i860, a span of black 
horses was purchased for the com- 
pany ; price $450. On January i, 
1862, the trustees of the company 
leased the engine, horses, hose and 
hose carriage to the city without com- 
pensation. The present three-story, 
brick building occupied by the com- 
pany was erected in 1875. On 
December 16, 1875, the company re- 
ceived a self-propelling steam engine 
from the Amoskeag Manufacturing 
Company, and after an unsatisfactory 
trial of it exchanged it, in August, 



1876, for the one now used by the 
company. 

James Knibbs was appointed en- 
gineer of the company, February, i860, 
which position he filled until Decem- 
ber I, 1863; from which time William 
H. Bradt has been engineer. 

Present number of officers and mem- 
bers, 39. 

Captains: Nathaniel B. Starbuck, 
1860-61; E. W. Stoddard, 1861; 
Lewis L. Southwick. 1862-64 ; Wm. 
G. Crissey, 1865 ; James H. Ingram, 
1866-68; Edward M. Green, 1869; 
Lansing Smith, 1870-75 ; Henry A. 
Deming, 1876; Isaac F. Handy, 1877; 
Mark H. Hubbell, 1878 ; Melville S. 
Marble, 1879-80; Herbert M.Caswell, 
1881 ; William J. Macdonald, 1882-83; 
Herbert M. Caswell, 1884 ; Percy B. 
McCoy, 1885 ; James H. Lloyd, 1886. 

Arba Read Steamer Company, 
composed of the active and honorary 
members of the Arba Read Steam 
Fire-Engine Company No. i, was in- 
corporated, March 18, 1885, as a social 
club, with the following trustees: 
Percy B. McCoy, John Squires, James 
C. Wilbur, John M. Sherrerd, and 
Frank L. Parker. The first officers 
elected by the trustees were John 
Squires, president ; John M. Sher- 
rerd, secretary and treasurer. A room 
above the old engine house was suita- 
bly furnished as a club-room for the 
members of the organization. On 
February i, 1886, its first officers were 
re-elected to the positions mentioned. 
Personal property, $2,500. 

Hugh Ranken Steam Fire-En- 
GINE Company No. 2. In the spring 
of 1858, several of the members of 
Eagle Engine Company No. 10, de- 
siring to have the organization pro- 
vided with a steam fire-engine, 
proposed to build one for $1,500 
should the common council authorize 
them to construct it. The aldermen, 
it seems, did not give the proposal 



135 



consiileration. On September 28, 
1S60, al the annual exhibition of the 
Rensselaer County Agricultural and 
Manufacturers' Society, there was a 
public trial of a number of steam fire- 
engines built by American manu- 
facturers. Being solicited to sub- 
scribe money to purchase the No. 2 
engine exhibited by the Amoskeag 
Manufacturing Company for Eagle 
Engine Company No. 10, a num- 
ber of citizens advanced $2,750 
for that purpose. The engine was 
purcliased on September 28, and on 
the evening of that day was placed in 
the engine-house of the company on 
t'ederal Street. On December 20, 
the common council changed the name 
of Eagle Engine Company No. 10 to 
Steam Fire-Engine Company No. 2, 
and on April i, i86r, changed that of 
the latter to Hugh Ranken Steam 
Fire-Engine Company No. 2. The 
common council having appropriated 
$2,250 to repay the sums advanced by 
the citizens, the engine became the 
property of the city. The first en- 
gineer of the steamer was Roswell R. 
Morgan. In 1862, he was succeeded 
by Thomas H. Bailey, who in turn, 
in 1867, was succeeded by his brother, 
William Bailey, who is still the en- 
gineer of the steamer. When the en- 
gine-house. No. 14 Federal Street, was 
burned May 10, 1S62, the steamer was 
temporarily housed at Cozzens' North- 
ern Hotel, and afterward in the house 
previously occupied by Niagara En- 
gine Company No. 7, on Second 
Street. The new engine-house, built 
of brick, two stories high, on the site 
of the old structure, was occupied by 
the company on February 14, 1863. 
The present building was erected in 
1885. Its occupation by the com- 
pany was celebrated on Thursday eve- 
ning, April 23, 1885. 

Present number of officers and mem- 
bers, 35. 

Captains : George W. Shepard, 



1S61-63; Charles F. Green, 1S63-66; 
H. B. Harvey, 1S67; Chas. F.Green, 
186S; H. B. Harvey, 1869; Chas. H. 
McGrath, 1870-72 ; Albert R. Corse, 
1873 ; W. G. Mackey, 1874-75 ; Ed- 
ward J. McKenna, 1876 ; Levi B. 
Gardner, 1877 ; Patrick J. Fitzgerald, 
1S78-81; Andrew J. Forrest, 1882-S3; 
Edward P. Green, 1884-85 ; Michael 
J. Quirk, 1886. 

Jason C. Osgood Steam Fire En- 
gine Company No. 3. On January 
14, 1862, the first steamer belonging 
to the company reached Troy, and 
was housed for a time in the building. 
No. 130 Second Street, occupied by 
Niagara Engine Company No. 7. The 
latter company was discontinued on 
January 23, and from its members 
was formed Jason C. Osgood Steam 
Fire Engine Company No. 3. An- 
drew D. Collins was the company's 
first engineer. A two-story, brick 
house was erected for the company in 
1862, on the south side of Adams 
Street, between First and Second 
streets. In 1865, it was taken by the 
city for the use of the Capital Police. 
The present engine-house, on the 
southwest corner of Adams and Sec- 
ond streets, was built in 1865-66, 

Present engineer, Alfred Cook. 

Present number of officers and 
members, 38. 

Captains: James McKeon, 1862- 
63; Michael Riley, 1S64; Edgar 
Ballou. 1865-66; Martin Payne, 
1867; Moses C. Green, 1868 ; Samuel 
Hudson, 1869-70; William T. Mc- 
Crea, 1871-72; George S. Bos- 
worth, jr., 1873 ; M. H. Arts, 1874; 
I. Seymour Scott, 1875-78 ; Adel- 
bert T. Burdick, 1879-80; Frank- 
lin Moore, 1S81 ; Thomas B. Bran- 
nan, 1882-83; William H.Donahue, 
1884-86. 

Charles Eddy Steam Fire En- 
gine Company No. 4. The company 
was organized November 21, 1866, 



136 



from the membership of the J. C. Tay- 
lor Hose Company No. 3, and the 
Rough and Ready Hose Company 
No. 4. The steamer, purchased from 
the Amoskeag Manufacturing Com- 
pany, cost $4,250, and was put in ser- 
vice May 22, 1867. The two-story, 
brick engine-house, buiU in 1866, on 
the northeast corner of River and 
North streets, was occupied by the 
company in May, 1867 The com- 
pany was reorganized October 6, 
1876. Michael Gillen has been en- 
gineer of the company since Feb- 
ruary, 1880. 

Present number of officers and mem- 
bers, 48. 

Captains : Henry Davis, jr., 1866-67 ; 
Charles H. Hitchcock, 1868-72 : Ar- 
thur Tilley, 1873 ; George L. Tvler, 
1874 ; G. A, Hitchcock, 1875-76 ; 
George Tyler, 1876 ; Thomas Terry, 
1877 ; Robert Seitz, 1878-80 ; Henry 
H. Plum, i88i ; W. H. Ransley, 
1882-83 ; R. H. Walsh, 1884 ; John 
E. Gaitley, 1885-86. 

F. W. Farnam Steam Fire-En- 
GiNE Company No. 5. The company 
was organized July 17, 1871, from the 
members of Lafayette Engine Com- 
pany N. 10. The first steamer of the 
company was built by L. Button & 
Son, in 1871. The company's two- 
story, brick engine-house, on the south 
side of Congress Street, Ida Hill, was 
built in 1876. The present engine 
used by the company was built by the 
Button Fire Engine Company of 
Waterford, and was delivered to the 
company July 3, 1885. James Pollock 
has been engineer of the company 
since 1871. 

Present number of officers and mem- 
bers, 29. 

Captains: John W. Rogers, 1872; 
James Crossen, 1873-76 ; George A. 
Crawford, 1877 ; Wm. M. Peckham, 
1878-79; Thomas Wells. 1880; Rob- 
ert T. Cary, 1881-82; Morgan A. 



Allen, 1883 ; John Mackey, 1S84-85 ; 
George Patterson, i886. 

Edmond Stanton Steam Fire- 
Engine Company No. 6. The com- 
pany was organized January 23, 1873, 
from the members of Empire State 
Engine Company No. 5. The first 
steamer of the company was built by 
Clapp & Jones. The engine was re- 
ceived November 30, 1872. The 
present one was made at the Man- 
chester Locomotive Works, Manches- 
ter, N. H. The name of the Empire 
State Engine Company No. 5 was 
changed to the present one, Janu- 
ary 23, 1873. The company's two- 
story, brick engine-house on the 
south side of Mill Street, at the 
Iron Works, was erected in 1877. 
Timothy Connors is the company's 
present engineer. 

Present number of officers and mem- 
bers, 46. 

Captains : Thomas Smith, 1873-76; 
Patrick M. Stanton, 1877 ; Dennis 
Gleason, 1878; Thomas Keating, 
1879 ; William H. Latham, 1880-81 ; 
John Ryan. 1882-83 ; Hubert Mad- 
den, 1884-86. 

Hope Steam Fire Engine Com- 
pany, No. 7. The company, or- 
ganized, May 20, 1826, received, 
in May, 1882, the steamer built by 
the Clapp & Jones Manufacturing 
Company, of Hudson, N. Y., used 
for a number of years by Edmond 
Stanton Steam Fire Engine Company 
No. 6. Lyman Rysdorph was made 
engineer of the steamer in 1882, which 
position he still retains. The engine 
is now temporarily housed in a two- 
story, brick building, on the south 
side of Washington Stree', Alba. 
The company has, as yet, no horses 
to draw the engine. The engine- 
house, to be built in 1886, will be on 
the southeast corner of Pawling Ave- 
nue and the Gristmill road, at the 
west end of the village of Albia. 



181 



Present number of officers and mem- 
bers, 23, 

Captains: James Chapman, i860; 
E. Winters, 1S61 ; James Anderson, 
1862-64; Jacob Winters, 1865-66; 
John Bloomingdale, 1867 , Norman 
Schermerhorn, 1868 ; S. McNaugh- 
ton , 1S69 ; Jacob Winters, 1870 ; C. 
H. Clark, 1871 ; Jacob Winters, 1872- 
75 ; R. H. Uline, 1876; Abrani Mil- 
ler, 1877-79 ; William M. Watson, 
1880-81 ; Hiram A, Ford, 1882-84 I 
Albert Minkler, 1885-86. 

Trojan Hook and Ladder Com- 
pany No. 3. The company was or- 
ganized February 5, 1835, in a frame 
building occupying the site of the 
Hugh Ranken Steam Fire-Engine 
Company's engine-house. The com- 
pany's first truck was a plainly con- 
structed vehicle. In 1S54, another 
truck was purchased, which had 
lieen built by W. H. Tarboss, New 
York, for a company in New Orleans. 
The truck-house at No. 14 Federal 
S'reet was burned in the great fire of 
May 10, 1S62. Afterward the truck 
was for a time housed at Cozzens' 
Northern Hotel, and subsequently at 
the engine-house in State Street. The 
company occupied its present two 
story, brick building, at Franklin 
Square, in the latter part of April, 
1865. The Hayes extension ladder, 
truck, and fire escape, now used by the 
company, was purchased in 1884. 

Captains: J. J. Firth, 1S57 ; L. S. 
Bunnell, 1858-60 ; J. Crawford Gieen, 
1861-65 ; Sidney Wright, 1866-67 ", 
J. Ciawford Green. 1868 ; D. F. Ma- 
gill, 1869 ; O. S. Ingram, 1S70-81 ; 
H. C. Salisbury, 1882-86. 

Trojan Hook and Ladder Com- 
pany was incorporated, March r, 1886, 
as a social club, with the following 
managers: Henry C. Salisbury, Ed- 
ward R. Wales. Albert Harrison, Ed- 
ward A. Wager, Edwin Morrison, Os- 
man F. Kinloch, Arthur M. Wight, 

19 



James Q. Godson, and Eugene C. 
Packard. 

The Troy fire department possesses 
eight steam fire-engines, two hook 
and ladder trucks, eight hose carts, 
eighteen thousand eight hundred feet 
of cotton and leather hose, twenty- 
four horses and seven wagons. The 
department for many years has been 
widely known for its unequalled effi- 
ciency and the remarkable intrepidity 
displayed by its officers and members 
in successfully combating with the 
flames of alarming fires. 

The present fire commissioners are 
Elias P. Mann, president of the 
board, Dennis O'Loughlin, Edmond 
Stanton, Albert Tompkins, William 
Ranken, and John M. Galligan. 

Chief engineer, J. Lansing Lane ; 
first assistant engineer, (northern dis- 
trict), Charles F. Green ; second as- 
sistant engineer, (southern district), 
Patrick Byron. 

Fire Department, Trustees 
of the. — The board of trustees of 
the fire department of the city of 
Troy was incorporated by the act 
passed by the legislature. May 7, 1880. 
The act empowered " the members of 
each steam engine company, hand en- 
gine company, hook and ladder com- 
pany, and hose company, under the 
control of the board of fire commis- 
sioners of the city * * * ^t the 
annual election for officers, on the 
first Monday of January in each year, 
or on any other day to which said an- 
nual election shall be postponed," to 
elect from their own number two 
persons, to be known as trustees of the 
fire department. The object of the 
corporation is to provide, maintain, 
and control a fund for the relief of 
indigent and disabled firemen, and of 
the widows and orphans of deceased 
firemen who have been members of the 
Troy fire department. The trustees 
are authorized to receive all moneys 



138 



due from agents of insurance compa- 
nies doing business in the city of Troy, 
as provided by the laws of the state, 
and to disburse the same and the in- 
come arising therefrom for the object 
mentioned. The principal officers of 
the board of trustees are Thomas E. 
Byron, president ; A. L. Fowler, sec- 
retary ; and Thomas A. Dowling, 
treasurer. 

Firemen's Association, Ex- 
empt. — The organization known as 
the Exempt Firemen's Association of 
the city of Troy, composed of exempt 
firemen who have received, or who 
have become entitled to receive, cer- 
tificates of discharge by reason of hav- 
ing served the term of years required 
by the law of the Troy fire depart- 
ment, also active firemen of the de- 
partment, and also the active and ex- 
empt members of the West Troy, 
Green Island, Cohoes, Lansingburgh 
and Waterford fire departments, was 
formed in Troy, on August 26, 1873. 
The object of the association is to 
maintain and perpetuate the social re- 
lations of the fiiemen of the depart- 
ment, and " to provide a benefit fund 
for the relief of the family of a mem- 
ber who may be removed by death." 
The association was incorporated May 
10, 1886. Present principal officers : 
John M. Galligan, president; Thomas 
J. Jennings, secretary ; Joel B. 
Thompson, treasurer. 

Fires. — Three large conflagrations 
have occurred in the city, and de- 
stroyed real and personal property val- 
ued at .$4,000,000. 

Fire of 1820. This conflagration 
began on Tuesday afternoon, at four 
o'clock, June 20, 1S20, in the stable 
belonging to Colonel Thomas Davis, 
in the rear of his residence, on the 
west side of First Street, now the site 
of the building No. 35 First Street. 



The wind was blowing from the south, 
and the fire had a rapid course north- 
wardly. The buildings burned on the 
west side of River Street covered the 
space, from Dr. Samuel Gale's drug 
store (now a part of the building No. 
163 River Street, occupied by John L. 
Thompson, Sons, & Co.), to Corning 
& Co.'s drug store, (now No. 227 
River Street.) On the east side of 
River Street, all the buildings were 
burned, from H. & G. Vail's dry- 
goods store, No. 158, opposite Dr. 
Samuel Gale's drug-store, to the cor- 
ner of River and First streets. On 
First Street, the fire consumed all the 
buildings, except the building of the 
Bank of Troy, which was somewhat 
damaged, from and includinc the two- 
story, wooden dwelling of Colonel 
Thomas Davis, to the corner of First 
and River streets. The buildings on 
State Street, between River and First 
streets, were also burner'. The build- 
ings alttng the river, west of those on 
River Street, were also consumed. 
About 90 buildings, in the business 
part of the city, were burned, of which 
were 69 stores and dwellings. Fire- 
men and fire engines from Albany, 
Lansingbuigh, Waterford, and the 
Watervliet Arsenal generously assisted 
the firemen and citizens of Troy to 
confine the flames to as small an area 
as possible. The mayor of the city, 
Esaias Warren, made a public appeal 
for aid through the newspapers, to re- 
lieve the wants of the impoverished 
people, and a local committee was ap- 
pointed to distribute such donations 
as were forwarded thereafter to the 
distressed city. On March 19, 1821, 
the relief committee reported the re- 
ceipt of $14,25249, and also of 
flour, provisions, vegetables, clothing, 
and household furniture. The city 
of New York contributed $6,227.35. 
The total loss of property was es- 
timated at $700,000. The Rens- 
selaer and Saratoga Insurance Com- 




FIELD Ol' THE KIRK OF 182O. 



140 



pany of Troy paid losses amount- 
ing to $iio,oOO within sixty days 
after the tire. 

On July 4, 1820, the Budget, de- 
scribing the ruins of the burned dis- 
trict, remarked: "The immense 
quantity of grain, flour, provisions, 
&c., with which many stores four, 
five and six stories high were crowded 
full, still burn like a coal-pit, and 
such is the depth of the cellars, that 
it is quite impracticable totally to ex- 
tinguish the fire. It is a singular 
fact that whole barrels of wheat flour 
have been completely charred by the 
late fire, and, without the aid of water, 
formed a coal harder than that made 
from hard wood. A piece of this coal 
was taken from the ruins by a gentle- 
man, who kept it some time in his 
hands and handed it to others, and 
then carried it to Piatt Titus' tavern, 
[Troy House], and delivered it to 
him to keep until he should leave the 
city, as he intended to take it with 
him. Piatt Titus laid it in his bar, 
and after some time it was discovered 
that the coal was on fire, and was 
burning so freely that had it not been 
discovered, it is probable the house 
would soon have been in flames from 
it." The fire ordinance, passed by the 
common council, July 8, that year, 
manifests the extreme carefulness ex- 
ercised to protect the city from a simi- 
lar calamity : " No person shall smoke 
or carry any lighted or burning segar 
or pipe, in any street, alley, barn, sta- 
ble, or outhouse in the city, upon pain 
of forfeiting and paying for each and 
every such offence, the penalty of one 
dollar." 

All the churches in the city ob- 
served July 12, that year, as a day of 
public humiliation and prayer. 

Fire of 1848. A fire, which be- 
gan about 9:30 A. M. on May i, 
1848, in a stable in the rear of Hal- 
sted's Mechanics' Hall, near the site 
of the old armory, burned all the 



buildings on the east and west sides 
of River Street, between Ferry and 
Congress streets. Firemen from Lan- 
singburgh. West Troy, and Albany 
assisted in suppressing the flames. 
The companies from Albany drew 
their engine by hand to Troy over a 
heavy road. 

Fire of 1854. On Friday after- 
noon, at I o'clock, August 25, 1854, 
the brick, steam planing mill, occu- 
pied by George Quiggin, standing on 
the southwest corner of Front and Di- 
vision streets, was discovered on fire, 
and an immediate alarm was given. 
A strong northwest wind was blowing, 
and the flames spread to the large 
piles of lumber south of the mill. As 
described by the Troy Daily Times: 
*• The fire ran up the south side of 
Division to River Street, and com- 
municated to the brick row on the 
west side of River Street, occupied by 
Robert Wasson and others, and it 
was with difficulty the residences on 
the opposite side were saved. From 
this point, it ran down the west side of 
River Street to the lumber yards be- 
low, crossing over the street and set- 
ting fire to the residence of Moses I. 
Winne, below Liberty Street, and 
thence spreading over the entire sec- 
tion of the city from Liberty Street 
down to the alley between Second and 
Third streets, destroying many valua- 
ble residences, together with Edger- 
ton, Sheldon & Osborn's (late Birge's) 
chair factory, the Troy and Greenbush 
railroad freight depot and machine 
shop, Jones & Hitchcock's new and 
extensive bell foundry, Parmenter's 
machine shop, and other valuable 
property." About two hundred build- 
ings were destroyed, and three hun- 
dred families rendered houseless. It 
was estimated that 20,000,000 feet of 
lumber were burned. Fire companies, 
with their apparatus, came from Al- 
bany. West Troy, Cohoes, Lansing- 
burgh, and Waterford, and aided the 




ANAL A V £ /^ 6/ £ 
ini.l) OK IHE FIRE OF 1854. 



142 



Troy firemen in opposing the progress 
of the flames. The total loss was es- 
timated to have been not less than 
one million dollars. The sufferers by 
this fire received relief from the citi- 
zens and from distant benefactors. 

Fire of 1862. The great confla- 
gration of Saturday afternoon, May 
10, 1862, was caused by sparks from 
a locomotive lodging in the roof of the 
Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad 
bridge, and setting it on fire. A gale 
was blowing from the northwest, and 
the wind at once carried the flaming 
shingles and glowing brands to the 
dry roofs of the numerous buildings 
in the central part of the city. Shortly 
after noon the alarm was given, and 
the firemen and engines quickly ar- 
rived at the east end of the burning 
bridge. A futile attempt was made 
to throw water on the flaming struc- 
tare, but the excessive heat and flying 
cinders compelled the firemen to aban- 
don it. An effort was made to open 
the draw to bar the progress of the de- 
vouring element, but this was also un- 
successful. Great tongues of flame 
leaped high above the blazing bridge, 
which soon fell into the river, and 
parts of the burning structure, floating 
with the current, imperiled the steam- 
boats and the smaller craft cabled 
along the wharves. Meanwhile hun- 
dreds of houses were on fire. From 
the bridge southeastwardly the flames 
were widening the area of the confla- 
gration with such fearful rapidity that 
the terrified people were scarcely able 
to escape them, while some were suf- 
focated in the streets by the dense 
smoke. 

When the stores on River Street 
began burning, the thoroughfare was 
so darkened by smoke that it was 
difficult to discern objects at the short- 
est distances. The high northwest 
wind swept the thick clouds of lurid 
smoke across the city, and covered it as 
with a pall. In less than an hour and 



a half a broad belt of fire lay across 
the city, from the river to the eastern 
hill. It was impossible to' pass from 
one side of it to the other, except by 
long detours, either east or west of it. 
Direful and unfounded reports aug- 
mented the terribleness of the calam- 
ity. Dwellings on the eastern hill 
not directly in the course of the fire 
were saved from burning with the ut- 
most difficulty. At one time, on 
Ninth Street, the greatest consterna- 
tion prevailed. In that part of the 
city, it was thought that the buildings 
there were not endangered, and no 
precautions were taken to save them 
from destruction. Suddenly brands 
weie carried by the wind thither, and 
and in a short time a number of un- 
protected houses lay in ashes on that 
street. 

The most distressing events of the 
long-remembered day were those in 
which helpless persons became the 
prey of the destructive element. 
Although the fire occurred at midday, 
when the people were best prepared 
to escape, yet so rapid was its progress 
and so great the panic that several 
persons were overtaken and hemmed 
in by the flames, and were burned. 
Ransom S. Haight was suffocated in 
the smoke on Seventh Street, where 
he was burned almost beyond identifi- 
cation. Thomas O'Donnell, an aged 
blind man, living on Green Street, 
north of Grand Division Street, left 
alone in the house, was burned in it. 
Zenas Gary, an aged physician, resid- 
ing at No. 29 Grand Division Street, 
rescued from his burning dwelling 
by his faithful wife, was fatally burned 
and died on the following day at Mar- 
shall Infirmary. The charred remams 
of Mary Dunlop and child were found 
in the ashes of a burned building. 
Numerous narrow escapes are related 
by men and women who were im- 
periled by the rapidly progressive 
fire. 



144 



At the beginning of the conflagra- 
tion, all human means seemed useless 
to save any of the buildings in the 
path of the fire. As it advanced 
southeastwardly, often slight changes 
of the wind gave it limitations, and 
the strenuous efforts of the indefatiga- 
ble firemen frequently checked its 
progress in different directions. The 
conflagration, about six o'clock, was 
stayed at Donohue & Burge's carriage 
factory, on the northwest corner of 
Seventh and Congress streets, having 
destroyed 507 buildings, not including 
barns and out-houses, covering an area 
of 75 .icres in the central part of the 
city. Viewed from Eighth Street, at 
night, the field of the fire was one of 
no little grandeur. Here and there 
unquenched flames illuminated des- 
olated spaces, and great beds of fire 
glowed among the blackened walls of 
the destroyed buildings. The reso- 
nant rhythm of the steam fire-engines 
and the steady cadtnces of the striking 
brakes of the hand-engines lulled to 
sleep the hundreds of houseless peo- 
ple in the neighboring homes of those 
who hospitably received them. 
Among the larger buildings burned 
were the Second Presbyterian Church, 
on the southeast corner of Sixth and 
Grand Division streets ; the Scotch 
Presbyterian Church on the east side 
of Seventh Street, between Broadway 
and State Street ; the North Baptist 
Church, on the southeast corner of 
Fifth and Fulton streets ; the Home 
Mission, on the east side of Seventh 
Street, between Broadway and State 
Street ; the Rensselaer Polytechnic 
Institute, on the northeast corner of 
State and Sixth streets ; the Troy City 
Bank, on the southeast corner of 
Fourth and Grand Division streets ; 
the Troy Orphan Asylum, on the north 
side of Grand Division, west of 
Eighth Street ; the Church Asy- 
lum, on south side of Federal Street, 
between Sixth and Eighth streets ; 



and the Union Railroad depot, on the 
the site of the present building. Fire- 
men and fire-engines from Albany, 
West Troy, Cohoes, Lansingburgh, 
and Waterford, came and assisted in 
the difficult work of limiting the 
range of the conflagration. The pro- 
gress of the fire southward along River 
Street was successfully opposed by the 
Arba Read and Jason C. Osgood 
steamers ; at the intersection of 
Fourth and Fulton streets, the 
Washington Volunteer Company 
checked the flames from crossing 
Fulton Street at that point ; and at 
the intersection of Broadway and 
Fifth Street, the Hugh Ranken and 
the Empire State engine companies 
energetically resisted there the ad- 
vance of the fire. Elsewhere the 
other companies vigorously battled 
with the destructive element. 

The total value of the property de- 
stroyed was appraised at $2,677,892, 
on which were insurances amounting 
to $1,321,874. Loss on real estate, 
$1,386,080 ; loss on personal property, 
$1,291,812; insurance on real estate, 
$766,691 ; and insurance on personal 
property, $555,183. Fifty thousand 
dollars were contributed before the 
end of May for the relief of the suf- 
ferers by the people of Troy and those 
of other places. That amount was 
largely increased during the month of 
June. In July, 181 new buildings 
were erecting in the burned district, 
and in November, six months after the 
fire, all the lots excepting two, on 
River Street, on which buildings had 
been burned, were occupitd by better 
ones. 



Pishing Lines — 

S. Draper & Son, manufacturers 
of fishing and chalking lines and seine 
twines, Nos. 652 and 654 River Street. 
The business was begun by Steplien 
Draper, in the summer of 1865, in the 



145 



building No. 643 River Street. In 
October, that year, he and James 
Hoyt formed the partnership of Dra- 
per & fioyt, manufacturing fishing 
lines and twines in the building now 
occupied by Hoyt & Wynlcoop, on 
Spring Avenue. On January i, 1867, 
after the dissolution of the firm in 
1866, Steplien Draper and his son, 
William H., under the firm-name of 
S. Draper & Son, continued the busi- 
ness at the same place. On May i, 
186S, they occupied the upper part of 
the Dickerman Building, No. 81 Ferry 
Street. In September 1884, the firm 
moved to its present location. Pos- 
sessing the latest improved machinery, 
the firm manufactures all kinds of silk, 
linen and cotton fishing lines, braided 
and twisted, chalk lines and seine 
twine. The firm sends its goods to 
dealers in all parts of the United 
States. 

Flour.— 

Oliver Boutwell & Son, whole- 
sale dealers in flour, Nos. 641 to 665 
River Street. (See Grain.) 

James E. Kimball & Sons, flour 
and produce commission merchants, 
No. 139 River Street. As a member 
of the firm of Bates, Grifiin. & Co., 
James E. Kimball engaged in the 
business in 1857, since which time he 
has been associated with the succeed- 
ing firms: Kimball & Bradley, 1S58- 
69 ; James E. Kimball & Co., 1869- 
76 ; James E. Kimball & Son, (Charles 
P.), 1876-84; James E. Kimball & 
Sons, (Charles P. and Edmund), May 
I, 18S4, to present time. 

D. H. Flack & Son, wholesale 
dealers in flour and feed, office No. 
361 River Street. The firm has the 
exclusive agency in this city and its 
vicinity for the sale of the celebrated 
brand of superlative flour made by 
Washburn, Crosby & Co,, whose three 
great mills, at Minneapolis, Minn., 



have a capacity for producing tlaily 
7,300 barrels of flour. D. H. Flack 
& Son, to facilitate their sales of the 
large number of barrels weekly re- 
ceived from the manufacturers, have 
a large storehouse, 36 by 200 feet, on 
Paine street, on the east side of the 
Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad, 
Green Island. The firm also deals in 
other brands of flour and are also 
jobbers in middlings and brans. 
Daniel H. Flack and his son, Clar- 
ence N. Flack, became associated 
under the present firm-name on 
January i, 1871. 

Le Roy Rickerson, wholesale 
dealer in flour, northwest corner of 
Fulton and Front streets. 

Foundries. — (See Machinery 
Manufacturers.) 

Fourth Battery, N. G. S. N. 

Y. — The information obtained re- 
specting the Troy City Artillery, now 
named the Fourth Battery, is very 
vague and too traditional to furnish 
any important particulars of its or- 
ganization. As the company adduces 
the year 18 1 2 as the date of its early 
formation, it may be identified with 
the flying artillery company of which 
Ruggles Hubbard, on August 11, 
1812, became captain; Richard M. 
Livingston, first lieutenant, and Wil- 
liam McManus, second lieutenant. 
The latter company was then connect- 
ed with the sixth regiment, second bri- 
gade of the first battalion of artillery 
of the state militia. In 1828, the 
Troy City Artillery was included in 
the fifth regiment of light infantry; 
William Brown then being captain of 
the company. For a number of years 
Charles E. Brintnall held the same 
position to which on September 29, 
1856, Sidney W. Parks, succeeded. 
The armory of the company was for a 
time in a building standing on the 



146 



plat of ground at the entrance of the 
Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad 
bridge. A number of years afterward, 
it was in a two-story building on 
Church Street, or on the east side of 
the alley, nearly opposite the space be- 
tween the city-hall and the Baptist 
church. After the state armory was 
built in i860, on the east side of River 
Street, between Congress and Ferry 
streets, the company's quarters were 
in it. Although retaining the 
name of the Troy City Artillery, the 
company as Battery B was incorpor- 
ated, in 1867, with the twenty fourth 
regiment, tenth brigade, third division 
of the National Guard of the state of 
New York. In 1878, it was known as 
Battery F, which designation in 1882 
was changed to that of the Fourth 
Battery. The company has the finely 
furnished rooms i, 2, and 3, on the 
first floor, on the west side of the 
hall of the new armory, on the south- 
east corner of Ferry and River streets. 
Its present officers are James E. 
Sharp, captain; Samuel Sexton, first 
lieutenant; and Gilbert W. Jewett, 
second lieutenant. The following 
persons have served as 

Captains: William Brown, 1828; 

Howe, 1839; Thomas Godson; 

William T. Willard ; Charles E. Brint- 
nall; Sidney W. Parks, from Septem- 
ber 29, 1856, to July 10, 1861; A. B. 
Myers, from July 10, 1861, to 
August 12, 1862; J. Thomas Davis, 
from August 12, 1862, to July, 1863; 
Phineas S. Pettit, from July 16, 1863 
to April 6, 1864; John M. Landon. 
from May 4, 1864 to December, 1865; 
William Shaw, from January 17, 1866 
to June, 1866; James E. Curran, from 
July, 1866 to April 1869; I. Seymour 
Scott, from April 26, 1869 to 1872; 
Albert H. Green, from October 5, 
1872 to February, 1878; George T. 
Steenberg, from April 15, 1878, to De- 
cember 3, 1883; Abram N. Belcher, 
from April 7, 1884, to August 31, 



1885 ; James E. Sharp, from Septem- 
ber 17, 1885 to present time. 

Freshets. — The rapid melting of 
deep beds of snow lying along the 
Hudson and its tributaries, north of 
Troy, in winter and in the early 
spring, or the fall of a great quantity 
of ram in the same territory, causes 
the river to overflow its banks and to 
sweep away in the strong current 
valuable property or to inundate it. 
A great freshet, in March, 1647, 
caused the water in the river to rise 
to a great height, during which two 
whales ascended the river. One of 
them stranded on an island, now cov- 
ered by the water above the 
state dam. It is said that 
the " fish was tolerably fat, 
for, although the people of Rens- 
selaerswyck broiled out a great quan- 
tity of train-oil, still the whole river 
(the current being still rapid) was oily 
for three weeks, and covered with 
grease. While the fish lay rotting, the 
air was infected with its stench to 
such a degree that the smell was of- 
fensive and perceptible for two miles 
leeward." 

On March 2 and 3, 1818, the water 
of a freshet inundated a fourth part of 
the city. Many persons were com- 
pelled to abandon their houses, and 
there was great loss of provisions. 

On March 12, 1832, a flood carried 
away a part of the bridge across the Mo- 
hawk, at Cohoes. On Tuesday morn- 
ing, March 13, at 11 o'clock, the water 
in the river in front of the city was 
eighteen inches higher than that of 
the freshet of 1818. The cellars and 
basements of houses on Fourth and 
Fifth streets as far north as Congress 
Street were filled with water. 

On Saturday, February 7, 1857, by 
the breaking up of the ice in the Mo- 
hawk and streams north of the city, 
the water rose rapidly. On Sunday 
afternoon, about 3 o'clock, the river 



147 



began rising at the rate of 3 to 4 
inches a minute, and on Monday 
morning, at 7 o'clock, the water was 
from 12 to 14 feet deep on the wharves. 
The covered bridge of the Rensselaer 
and Saratoga Railroad, across llie sec- 
ond branch of the Mohawk River, im- 
mediately above the stale dam, was 
swept from its piers and carried over 
the dam to the north side of the rail- 
road bridge between Troy and Green 
Island. There was great loss of 
property. On February 12, the river 
was again frozen, and people crossed 
it on the ice. The flood is said to 
have been from six to eighteen inches 
higher than the one in 1832. 

On Saturday night, February 13, 
1886, about ten o'clock, the ice in the 
river in front of the city began break- 
ing. The water rose rapidly, and on 
Sunday afternoon, about three o'clock, 
its height was three inches less 
than the high water of the freshet of 
1857. The ice between the city and 
Albany not breaking caused the river 
to overflow and inundate most of the 
lower part of the city. Considerable 
property was lost and damaged by the 
high water, 

Friends, Society of,— Early in 
the present century, the Friends liv- 
ing in Troy and its vicinity began to 
hold religious meetmgs in the village. 
In November, 1803, a committee was 
appointed by the Easton Monthly 
Meeting to visit the Friends in Troy 
and to report the condition of the 
society. A favorable report was made 
May '5, 1804. In 1806, the Troy 
society rented the frame, double- 
tenement, belonging to Daniel Mer- 
ritt, on the lot. 50 by 90 feet, on the 
southwest corner of Fourth and State 
streets. In it the society held its 
meetings. On October 20, 1807, 
Edward Southwick and Abraham 
Staples, members of the society, pur- 
chased the property for $2,300, and. 



on the same day, declared that it was 
held in trust by them for the Easton 
Monthly Meeting. The Troy Pre- 
parative Meeting had a membership 
which included some of the best peo- 
ple in Troy. On April 19, 1836, the 
lot, south of the one on the corner, was 
purchased by the society. About the 
year 1840, the society began to de- 
cline. The two lots and the build- 
ings on them were sold, March 2, 
and July i, 1874, to the First Uni- 
tarian Church. On Monday, October 
12, that year, the work of demolish- 
ing the meeting-house was begun. 

Fruits. — 

J. A. HiLLlKER & Co., (Edward 
Hilliker), wholesale dealers in foreign 
and domestic fruits. No. 349 River 
Street, northwest corner of River and ' 
Grand Division streets. 

Fulton Market House.— The 

building was erected in 1840 by the 
city, on the plat of ground early 
known as the Troy ship-yard. The 
building cost about $30,000, and was 
first occupied in May, 1841. The 
first floor was leased to butchers and 
marketmen. The hall above it was 
used for many years by theatrical com- 
panies, and for concerts, lectures, and 
meetings. The building, and the ship- 
yard plat fronting 112 feet on River 
Street and extending to the river, was 
sold by the city to William H. Frear 
on Monday afternoon, August 4, 1879, 
for |6l,ooo. 

Fulton Street previous to the 
year 1847 was called Elbow Street; a 
name given it on account of the 
street's deflection northwestward at 
River Street. 



Furnishing Goods. — (See 
Men's Furnishing Goods.) 




GREEN \ waterman's BUILDING, 282 RIVER STREET. 



149 



Furniture.— 

Grekn & Waterman, manufactur- 
ers of and dealers in furniture, general 
upholsterers and house-decorators. 
No. 2S3 River Street. The firm was 
formed by J- Crawford Green and 
Marcus M. Waterman, April i, 1872, 
who succeeded to the business begun 
about the year 1S2S, by Elijah Ga- 
lusha, atNo 307 River Street. In 185S, 
he occupied the building, No. 270 
River Street, where Green & Water- 
man continued the business until 
April I, 18S0, when they moved to 
the large four-story, brick building. 
No. 2S3 River Street, which had been 
attractively refitted into spacious sales- 
rooms, in which the enterprising firm 
has now a most varied collection of 
finely-finished furniture, a large 
stock of choice upholstering goods, 
and artistic specialties. At the firm's 
manufacturing establishment, on 
Front Street, north of Fulton Street, 
a great variety of elegant furniture is 
made, where also is elaborated in 
wood many modern and classic de- 
signs for house-interiors. The firm 
furnishes estimates and designs for all 
kinds of interior work, upholstering 
and furniture ; also for papering, car- 
peting, tiling and remodeling the in- 
teriors of private and public buildings. 

Isaac Keith, furniture, carpets 
and upholstery goods, Nos. 255 and 
257 River Street. The business was 
begun in 1834, by Jacob M. Van der 
Heyden, in a building on the corner 
of Albany and Second streets, and in 
another, known as No. 200^ River 
Street. He was succeeded by Hosea 
Leach, in 1859, ^^ No. 180 River 
Street ; Keith, Ensign & Nelson, in 
1871, at Nos. 178 and 182 River 
Street ; Keith & Ensign, in 1872, at 
Nos. 165 and 167 River Street ; Isaac 
Keith, in 1873, at the same place, 
who, in 18S3, moved into the Burdett 
Building. (See Burdett Building.) 



L. W. Raymond, dealer in furniture, 
Nos. 189 and 191 River Street. The 
business was begun by Albe C. Dan- 
iels, at No. 18 Congress Street, in 
1835. 

A. L. HoTCHKiN, manufacturer of 
and dealer in furniture and upholster- 
ing goods. Nos. 329 and 331 River 
Street. The business was begun by 
Leonard Smith, at No. 312 River 
Street, in 1854. 

Furs. — (See Keenan Building, 
Samuel B. Mount, and Hatters, E. 
W. Boughton & Co.) 

Gas-light Companies.— The 

use of gas for illuminating purposes 
was at first sensational, as the follow- 
ing advertisement in one of the city 
newspapers of July 14, 1818, shows: 

■' The subscriber informs the citi- 
zens of Troy and the public at large 
that he has at a great expense fitted 
up an apparatus for a splendid and 
brilliant exhibition of this wonderful 
production of chemistry. An invisible, 
aerial, and permanently elastic fluid 
will be made to burn in the atmos- 
pheric air with a steady and silent 
flame, and to afford a soft and most re- 
markably pleasant light. The gas 
lights will be exhibited during the 
whole of the present week at Barney's 
City Coffee House, near the court- 
house, in Troy. They will appear in 
various fanciful forms, as issuing from 
common burners, from chandeliers, 
from the beaks and wings of eagles, 
from a cross, a crescent, and a fish, 
Samuel Willard." 

A public exhibition of gas, burning 
in jets, was made at the court-house, on 
Monday night, July 19, 1847. In one 
of the daily papers this notice was 
given it: "Our citizens will have an 
opportunity of witnessing a beautiful 
gas light in front of the court-house 
this evening about 9 o'clock. It is a 



151 



different article from that used in 
Albany and other cities. It gives a 
more brilliant light and has no offen- 
sive smell. It is called Clutchett's 
solar gas, and is manufactured from 
old grease by a very simple apparatus. 
The capitol at Washington, Coleman's 
hotel and numerous other public 
iiuildings are lighted by the gas. The 
apparatus will remain at the court 
house for a number of days, when our 
citizens will be able to judge the 
merits of the gas as a cheap and beau- 
tiful light." 

The same newspaper on the follow- 
ing day described the effect of the 
light: "The front of the court-house 
was beautifully illuminated last night. 
The light from the gas lamps tem- 
porarily placed there was very fine, 
although the evening was not favor- 
able. As it was, the light thrown 
upon the park and surrounding build- 
ings was very brilliant. The Troy 
Band, always ready to encourage 
matters appertaining to the city's 
welfare, discoursed some eloquent 
music in honor of the occasion." 

Although the legislature was pe- 
titioned in January, 1845, to pass a 
bill to incorporate the Troy Gas-light 
Company, it was not until February 
16, 1848, that the present company 
was chartered. On March 15, that 
year, the following persons were 
elected its officers: Daniel South- 
wick, president ; Jonas C. Heartt, 
John A. Griswold, Willam S. Sands, 
John T. McCoun, E. Thompson Gale, 
George B. Warren, Charles Dauchy, 
and Lemuel H. Davis, directors. 
George H. Lee of Philadelphia, 
erected the works on the south side 
of the lot, on the east side of Hill 
Street, between Liberty and Washing- 
ton streets. The capital stock was 
$100,000, of which $11,000 was taken 
by citizens of Troy, and the remainder 
by citizens of Philadelphia. In April, 
1850, five miles of mains had been 



laid and sixty-one street lamps, thirty- 
two residences and 'several churches 
had been supplied with gas by the 
company. The company's office is in 
the Troy Savings Bank Building, 
northeast corner of Second and State 
streets. 

The Citizens' Gas-light Company 
of Troy was incorporated, May ig, 
1S75. The works are on the east side 
of Vail Avenue, between Canal Street 
and Glen Avenue. Office No. 13 
Bridge Avenue. 

Glass — 

Thorne, Bennett, & Rogers, 
wholesale dealers in window and plate 
glass, paints, and glaziers' materials. 
No. 309 River Street, west side, be- 
tween Fulton and Grand Division 
streets. The members of this enter- 
prising firm, Arthur Thorne, R. J. 
Bennett, and M. W. Rogers, previ- 
ously associated under the firm-name 
of Arthur Thome & Co., changed it, 
on November 14, 1885, to the present 
one. On October 29, 1881, Arthur 
Thorne and W. A. Chapman estab- 
lished the business under the former 
name, in the four-story, brick build- 
ing now occupied by the firm. On 
the retirement of W. A. Chapman, 
April 1883, R. J. Bennett entered 
into partnership with Arthur Thorne ; 
the business being conducted by them 
under the name of Arthur Thorne & 
Co. On February 9. 1885, M. W. 
Rogers was admitted a member of the 
firm. Dealing extensively in plain 
and ornamental glass, Thorne, Ben- 
nett, & Rogers have their warerooms 
stocked with all sizes, thicknesses, 
colors, and designs, embracing French, 
English, and American window, sin- 
gle and double, polished and crystal 
plate, ribbed and rough plate, 
enameled, and ground glass. The 
firm promptly fills orders for rolled 
cathedral glass, and stained and 



152 




THORNE, BENNETT, & ROGERS* BLDG. 

figured glass for church-windows. 
Oval front, full-metal show-cases of 
different sizes are also included in the 
goods contained in the firm's sales- 
rooms. Thorne, Bennett, & Rogers 
.are manufacturers' agents for the sale 
of dry colors, paints, and varnishes, 
and keep constantly in stock a large 
assortment of ready mixed paints. 
Painters and glaziers' supplies are also 
embraced in the stock of the firm. 



Grafton, one of the towns of 
Rensselaer County, was erected March 
20, 1807. The village of Grafton Cen- 
ter is about 13 miles east of the city 
of Troy, and contains two churches, 
two hotels, three stores, several fac- 
tories, and a number of dwellings. 
East Grafton and Quackenkill are 
small collections of houses. 



Population of the town of 
Grafton : 1810, 1,410 ; 1815, 1,378 ; 
1820, 1,611 ; 1825, 1,593 ; 1830, 1,681 ; 
1835, 1,682 ; 1840, 2,^19 ; 1S45, 1,905 ; 
1850. 2,033 ; 1855, 1,888 ; i860, 1.837 ; 
1865, 1,673; 1870. 1,599 ; 1875, 1,625 ; 
1880, 1,676. 



Grain and Feed.— 

Oliver Boutvvell & Son, mil- 
lers and dealers in flour, grain, and 
feed, Nos. 641 to 655 River Street. 
The senior member of the firm en- 
gaged in business in Troy in 1828, 
and in the fall of 1837 began milling 
flour in a two-story, brick building, 
formerly occupying the site of the 
firm's flour and feed-mill. At that 
time there were no less than twelve 
flouring mills in Troy and its imme- 
diate vicinity ; now there is not one 
wholly engaged in grinding flour. In 
1786, Troy began its growth by being 
more conveniently situated than Lan- 
singburgh at the head of navigation, 
where vessels could receive grain for 
transportation. Great quantities of 
grain were shipped in sloops to dis- 
tant places from the village, in which 
were large warehouses belonging to 
merchants, who during the winter 
season purchased wheat brought in 
sleds by farmers living north, west, 
and east of Troy. The mill and 
the other adjoining brick buildings 
of Oliver Boutwell & Son have a 
frontage of 200 feet on River Street. 
The machinery is operated by large 
turbine wheels driven by water from 
the hydraulic canal extending from 
Canal Street southward along the 
west side of River Street. The firm's 
offices are in the north building, south 
of which is the mill-building, in 
which are ground rye flour for bread, 
and corn and oat.s for feed. The ad- 
joining building is used for storing 
flour, feed, and unground grain. Next 
to it is the plaster-mill, in which Nova 



153 



Scotia plaster is ground for farmers' 
use. The firm deals largely in corn, 
oats, rye, and wheat, which are sold 
mostly in car-loads to millers north 
and east of the city. The firm has 
the sale of Charles A. Pillsbury & 
Co.'s celebrated flour, made in Minne- 
apolis, Minn., and other choice brands 
of flour. The firm also supplies 
dealers with large quantities of Nova 
Scotia plaster, in bulk and bag. 
Charles A. Boutwell became associ- 
ated in business with his father as a 
partner in iS66. 



Present officers : Lewis E. Griffith, 
commander; Patrick H. Gaynor, se- 
nior vice-commander; C. A. Sey- 
mour, junior vice-commander; Wil- 
liam D. Taylor, adjutant ; Charles M. 
Leet, quartermaster ; L. H. Hull, 
chaplain ; Daniel Bounds, surgeon ; 
John Butler, officer of the day ; Wil- 
liam Gregory, officer of the guard. 

The post meets every Friday night, 
at No. 269 River Street. 

Post William B. Tibbits, No. 
14T, was organized January 14, 1880. 






«. 



II' ten 




(jLIVKR boutwell .'^ SONS MILLS. 



Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic. — There are four Grand Army 
posts in the city. 

Post G. L. Willard, No. 34, was 
organized June I, 1S69. First offi- 
cers : Joseph B. Carr, commander; 
Joseph Hyde, senior vice-commander ; 
Joseph Egolf, junior vice-commander ; 
Edward I. Davis, adjutant ; Bernard 
N. Smith, quartermaster; Alonzo Al- 
den, chaplain ; William S. Cooper, 
M. D., surgeon ; Anson Moore, ser- 
geant-major ; Isaac F. Handy, quar- 
termaster-sergeant ; James F. Sim- 
mons, officer of the day ; George W. 
Jenkins, officer of the guard. 



First officers : William Fitzpatrick, 
commander ; Adelbert T. Burdick, 
senior vice-commander; Levi W. Hy- 
dorn, junior vice-commander ; John 
E. Hanchette, adjutant ; George W. 
Hazer, quartermaster; Joseph H. Har- 
rington, chaplain ; Alonzo C. Valen- 
tine, surgeon ; Nathaniel B. Gardner, 
officer of the day ; John Singseim, offi- 
cer of the guard. 

Present officers : Abram Ashley, 
commander ; Charles F. Roemer, se- 
nior vice-commander; William H. 
Boughton, junior vice-commander; 
Isaac F. Handy, adjutant ; C. F. A. 
Schmidt, quartermaster ; George M. 



154 



Payfer, chaplain ; John E. Vanden- 
burgh, surgeon ; Alonzo W. Hill, offi- 
cer of the day ; Hiram D. Pierce, offi- 
cer of the guard. 

The post meets in Druids' Hall, 
No. 197 River Street, on first and 
third Monday nights of each month. 

Post John A. Griswold, No. 338, 
was organized April 16, 1883. First 
officers : Philip Fitzpatrick, command- 
er ; Joseph W. Moore, senior vice- 
commander ; Philip M. Wales junior 
vice-commander ; Arthur W. Brad- 
ley, adjutant ; George H. Otis, quar- 
termaster ; Rice C. Bull, chaplain ; 
Le Roy McLean, M. D., surgeon ; 
David M. Ranken, officer of the day ; 
Edward C. Lyman, officer of the 
guard. 

Present officers : Robert W. Hunt, 
commander ; Philip M. Wales, se- 
nior vice-commander ; David M. Ran- 
ken, junior vice-commander ; Arthur 
W. Bradley, adjutant; George H. 
Otis, quartermaster ; Howard E. 
Mitchell, chaplain ; Le Roy McLean, 
M.D., surgeon; Edward C. Lyman, 
officer of the day ; R. A. Kerr, officer 
of the guard. 

The post meets in Pythian Castle, 
State Street, on second and fourth 
Wednesday nights of each month. 

Post John McConihe, No. 185, 
was organized March 18, 18S5. First 
officers : Benjamin F. Page, com- 
mander ; R. N. Kasson, senior vice- 
commander ; Edward Hogben, junior 
vice-commander; Walter Graham, ad- 
jutant ; A. D. McConihe, quarter- 
master ; L. H. Balch, chaplain ; R. W. 
Edwards, officer of the day ; J. H. 
Conway, officer of the guard. 

Present officers the same, except- 
ing Michael McMurray, who is senior 
vice-commander. 

The post meets on second and 
fourth Monday nights of each month, at 
Dauchy Hall, No. 273 River Street. 



Grand Central Theatre, Nos. 

71 and 73 Fourth Street, was opened 
as a variety play-house on Monday 
night, June 7, 1875. The building 
had previously been the First Unita- 
rian Church, and earlier the Presby- 
terian Session-house. On Saturday 
morning, before daylight, December 
24, 1881, the building was burned. 
In 1882, it was reconstructed and again 
opened as a theatre. It has a roomy 
stage, and will seat about 600 persons. 

Greenbush, one of the first 
towns of Rensselaer County, was 
erected April 10, 1792. Population ; 
1800, 3,472 ; 1810, 4.458 ; 1S15, 2,396; 
1S20, 2,764 ; 1825, 2,914 ; 1830, 3,216 ; 
1835, 3.345 ; 1840. 3.701 ; 1845, 4,182: 

1S50, 3,945 ; 1855. 3.303 ; i860, 3,992 ; 

1865. 4,779 ; 1870, 6202 ; 1875,7,066; 
1880, 6,689. 

Greenbush, in the town of Green- 
bush, was incorporated as a village, 
April 14, 1815. The northern part is 
commonly called East Albany. The 
site of the village was at an early date 
a part of the farm of Hendrick Van 
Rensselaer, on which, about the year 
1663, a small fort was erected to pro- 
tect the settlers from hostile Indians. 
It was called Fort Crailo ; Crailo be- 
ing the name of the Van Rensselaer 
estate, near the city of Amsterdam, 
Holland. The site of the village was 
once covered with pine trees, from 
which it derived its Dutch name, 
Groenen bosch, Greenbush. The 
first train on the Troy and Greenbush 
Railroad arrived in Troy, on June 12, 
1845. There are seven churches in 
the place. 

Green Island, bounded on the 

north by the second branch and on the 
west and south by the first branch of 
the Mohawk River, and on tlie east by 
the Hudson, lies west of the northern 



155 



part of the city. It was early known 
as Tibbits' Island. It is about two 
miles long and a half mile wide. 
Purchased with the other land con- 
tiguous to it from the Indians by ihe 
agents of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, on 
July 27, 1630, it was leased on May 
4, 1708, to Colonel Peter Schuyler for 
one-tenth of its yearly productions. 
From Colonel Peter Schuyler, it 
passed to Hendrick Oothout, June 8, 
1713, and on his death in 1738, to his 
son, Jonas, who, in 1769, willed it to 
his two sons, Hendrick and Volkert. 
By partition deeds, Hendrick ob- 
tained the north part of the island, and 
his brother, the south part. The 
former, on March i, 1796, conveyed 
the north part to George and Ben- 
jamin Tibbits. The executors of the 
will of Volkert Oothout, on Septem- 
ber 28, 1833, sold the south part, con- 
taining 125 acres, to Daniel Cady, 
who, on June 20, 1834, conveyed it to 
Elisha Tibbits, who, on September 15, 
that year, obtained for $750, a release 
of the annual rent from Stephen Van 
Rensselaer, the patroon. On October 
22, 1834, Elisha Tibbits made a dec- 
laration that the land had been pur- 
chased for George Tibbits, George 
Griswold, and himself ; each being en- 
titled to one-third part of the 125 
acres. In the spring of 1835, Le 
Grand Cannon became associated 
with the purchasers; one-half of 
George Griswold's interest in the 
property having been conveyed to 
him. The owners then projected a 
great improvement of the property by 
laying out a number of mill and fac- 
tory sites along the west bank of the 
Hudson, south of the state dam, 
from which water was to be conducted 
by a canal. In 1S38, after a long liti- 
gation relating to the use of the water 
from the Hudson, the suit was ended 
and the proposed improvements 
abandoned. The property was then 
subdivided and conveyed to parties 



claiming ownership. Many of the 
lots laid out on S. A. Beers' map of 
April 20, 183S, were subsequently 
conveyed to different persons, who 
erected on them dwellings, factories, 
and manufacturing works. 

In 1836, a saw-mill and stove- 
foundry were erected near the state 
dam. The Eagle Foundry was built 
in 1 85 1, and in the following year, the 
Green Island Malleable Iron Works 
were erected. In 1853, the car works 
of Eaton, Gilbert, & Co., were built. 
(See Cars.) The village was incor- 
porated April 5, 1853. On June 18, 
that year, the first village officers 
were elected. The first trustees 
were Stephen Viele, Jacob Yates, 
Robert Bogardus, Warren Groat, and 
Alexander Morrison. 

There are five churches in the vil- 
lage: St. Marks, Episcopal, east side 
of Hudson Avenue, opposite Clinton 
Street ; St. Joseph's, Roman Catholic, 
east side of George Street, between 
Center and Swan streets ; Presbyterian 
Church, west side of Hudson Avenue, 
between Market and Clinton streets ; 
Methodist, east side of Hudson 
Avenue, near the bridge ; Baptist 
Mission, northeast corner of Market 
and George streets. Corporation Hall, 
built in 1883, is on the northeast cor- 
ner of George and Clinton streets. 
The fire apparatus in the village em- 
braces Uri Gilbert Steam Engine No. 
I ; William E. Gilbert Hose No. i ; 
and the John McGowan Hose No. 2 ; 
The Green Island Review was pub- 
lished by Henry L. Gilbert, from 
January i, 1880 to October i, 18S4 ; 
and the Albany County Herald, from 
October, 1884 to September, 1885. 
The Delaware and Hudson Canal 
Company's car works are immediately 
north of Tibbits Street. 

Population: 1S55, 1,324; i860, 
1,600; 1870, 3,135; 1880, 4,160. 

The following manufactories are in 
the village: 



15 



Green Island Malleable and 
Gray Iron Works, Torrance & 
Co., (William M. Torrance and J. W. 
Lawrence,) Hudson Avenue, were 
established in 1852 by William Tor- 
rance. The firm of Torrance & Co., 
formed February i, 1S86, succeeded 
that of Torrance, Merriam, & Co. 

Crampton & Belden, (Albert 
Crampton and Emerson Belden.) 
blind and door manufacturers; office 
and blind factory northeast corner of 
Hudson Avenue and Bleecker Street ; 
door factory Watervliet, west side of 
first branch of the Mohawk River, op- 
posite Arch Street, Green Island. The 
business was begun by Emerson Bel- 
den in 1867, who, in the foUowmg 
year, became associated with Albert 
Crampton under the present firm- 
name. 

Green Island Stove Foundry, 
Marcus L. Filley, east side of George 
Street, between Bleecker and Tibbits 
streets. This large establish- 
ment, having a frontage of 220 feet on 
George Street, is the property of 
Marcus L. FiUey, who, in 1859, suc- 
ceeded to the business of Newberry, 
Filley, & Co., who, in 1854, succeeded 
Morrison & Tibbits, and they, in 1848, 
John Morrison, who, in 1842, suc- 
ceeded the firm of Morrison, Manning 
& Co., who built the first foundry on 
the site in 1836. 

Andrew L. Rose, manufacturer 
of patent pipe-cutting and threading 
tools, and patent pipe-vises, estab- 
lished in 1 886 the business in the 
Eagle Foundry Building, on the south- 
west corner of Paine and Hamilton 
streets. 

Linseed Oil Works, A. B. & 
L. H. Gibbs, south side of Albany 
Street, near West Troy bridge. 

Griswold Opera House. — 

The first llieatrical performance given 



in Troy was announced in the follow- 
ing advertisement : 

" This Monday evening, May the 
20th, 1793, Mr. Moore, who performed 
in Albany about seven years ago, will 
give an evening's entertainment at 
the house of Mr. Ashley, in a course 
of lectures, when the chaste and deli- 
cate ear will find gratification ; while 
mirth attends to call forth the Risible 
Faculties. The exhibition offered is 
entitled the Muse in Good Humor, in 
four parts ; to be preceded by an Eu- 
logy on Free Masonry. Tickets, 2 
shillings and six pence for grown per- 
sons, and one shilling and six pence 
for children. Doors open at 7 o'clock, 
and the eulogy commences at half- 
past seven o'clock precisely." 

Before the period of menageries and 
circuses, one or two wild and strange 
animals were taken about the coun- 
try on exhibition. The first elephant 
seen in the village was advertised in 
this unpretentious way: "A live ele- 
phant — To be seen in the village of 
Troy, at the house of Howard Moul- 
ton, [on the site of the Troy Female 
Seminary], from Tuesday morning 
the 8th of October inst., where she 
will continue till Thursday evening, 
the loth. Price of admission, twenty- 
five cents ; children half-price." 

In December, 1822, "a novel ex- 
hibition of natural curiosities" was 
advertised to be "viewed at Mr. Bab- 
cock's hotel," on the east side of River 
Street, between Congress and Ferry 
streets. The chief attractions of this 
show were a dwarf cow from Spain, 
two feet nine iticbes high, "allowed 
by butchers of New York to be a com- 
plete model of a beauty in the animal 
creation; " a living coeater, an animal 
of the ape family, said to have a great 
use of his tail," and having "no 
thumbs ; " a learned bear, which 
could "read, spell, subtract, multiply 
and divide, make out any number 
with figures ; " a whale, eighteen feel 



151 



long, nine around the body, with a 
moutli four feet wide, caught near 
Sandy Hook. The managers of this 
aggregation of wonders promised to 
gratify the people of Troy with 
"music on King David's cymbal. This 
instrument is of the kind used so 
much by the ancients, and calculated to 
excite animation, it being plaintive, 
lively and melodious. Also, Music 
on the Leaf, accompanied by the 
violin and organ. The sounds pro- 
duced by the Leaf are admired by the 
lovers of music, and considered a 
great curiosity." 

In April, 1823, Mr. Keene gave a 
vocal concert in three parts at Bab- 
cock's City Hotel, and accompanied 
his songs on the piano-forte. The 
cards of admission, one dollar each, 
were "to be had at the Bar." 

Mr., Mrs., and Miss Russell gave a 
theatrical entertainment in May, 

1827, in Mr. Churchill's store room, 
corner of Fifth and Ferry streets. 
The dramatic pieces presented were 
"selected from moral authors." The 
admittance was twenty-five cents. 
The front seats were reserved for 
ladies. 

In the Rensselaer House, previously 
known as the Bull's Head Tavern, on 
the corner of River and Second 
streets, was a large apartment called 
the "Assembly Room," which was 
often used for dramatic exhibitions. 
On Tuesday evening, September 9, 

1828, the Troy Theatre Company 
opened the season with the celebrated 
tragedy, "Douglass, or the Noble 
Shepherd." Messrs. Parker, Hunt, 
D. Stone and Mason, with Mrs. 
Nagle and Mrs. Marshall were the 
principal actors. During the season 
Mr. Eberle of Albany, Mrs. Douglass 
and Mrs. Stickney from New York, 
and Mr. Cronk from London played 
their parts in the Assembly Room. 

The Troy Museum, in the building 
on the northeast corner of River and 



State streets, was opened to the pub- 
lic on Monday, December 15, 1S2S. 
Three large rooms were devoted to 
the display of various collections of 
natural and artificial curiosities. In 
the lower room, on the second story, 
there were about 300 stuffed birds and 
animals, a case containing more than 
700 insects, one filled wilh more than 
600 specimens of minerals, another 
having in it about 600 shells, another 
with 100 reptiles and insects, and an- 
other with 200 zoophytes, corallines, 
and petrifactions. In the upper room, 
was a large collection of the imple- 
ments of war of different savage tribes, 
their household utensils and articles; 
of dress. Fourteen life-size wax 
figures were among the other attrac- 
tions of the room ; one of Washing- 
ton, Lafayette, Jackson, Daniel Lam- 
bert, Charlotte Temple, and a Boston 
beauty. There was also a room of 
paintings, in which was a splendid 
cosmorama. The admittance was 
twenty-five cents ; children, half-price. 
In 1847, the building on the north- 
east corner of River and Fulton 
streets was fitted for the display of a 
large collection of curiosities, and was 
called the Troy, or Peale's Museum. 
It was opened to the public on Mon- 
day, August 23, that year. " No one 
can traverse these elegant rooms," a 
journalist observed, " and through 
the medium of old-time relics hold 
communication with past ages, with- 
out coming away, if not better, at 
least a wiser person. Birds and beasts 
of every description are ranged around 
the rooms, from the smallest humming 
bird to the American eagle, and from 
the monkey to the rhinoceros. We 
were particularly pleased with the 
different specimens of the flamingo, 
some of them most perfect, both in 
form and color. Minerals, fossils, and 
shells, rare, curious, and in great 
abundance ; strange fish, crocodiles, 
and a creature called the duck-billed 



158 

patibus are among the wonderful ; wife of the manager, taking the role 

while of the beautiful, the cosmoramic of " Topsy." The play had a contin- 

views are the most lovely things we uous run of 150 n'ghts in Troy, 
have seen. * * * Take it all in A larger play-house being desired, 

all, we have no hesitation in saying a number of capitalists organized the 

that our museum, in point of beauty Troy Dramatic Building Association, 

neatness, and elegance, is second to and erected, in 1855, on the 

none." site of the Griswold Opera House, 




DIAGRAM OF GRISWOLD OPERA HOUSE. 

The different concerts and dramatic Nos. 10 and 12 Third Street, the thea- 
performances given nightly, excepting tre known as the Troy Adelphi, seat- 
Sunday, and on Saturday afternoon, ing 1,400 people. The stage had a 
made the museum for many years a depth of 42 feet. The drop curtain, 
popular place of entertainment, painted by Edward Hayes of the 
" Uncle Tom's Cabin," as a play, was Boston Theatre, displayed a picture of 
first presented on the stage of the mu- the Lake of Geneva, Switzerland, 
seum, Mrs. George C. Howard, the The Adelphi was opened on Monday 



159 



night, October 22, 1855, with the pre- 
sentation of " Love's Sacrifice, or the 
Rival Merchants." The last perform- 
ance, " Peep O'Day," was given on 
Saturday night, September 13, 1862. 
On the morning of October 10, 1862, 
a few minutes before i o'clock, the 
the theatre was discovered on fire, 
and was quickly burned. 

Griswold Hall, named in honor of 
John A. Griswold, was built on the 
site of the Adelphi, in 1863. It was 
opened with a grand concert on Mon- 
day night, January 11, 1864. On Sat- 
urday morning, April i, 1871, about 
I o'clock, the building was found 
burning, and soon it was in ruins. 

The Griswold Opera House was 
built on the site, in 1871, and was 
opened, on Monday night, October 30, 
that year, with the " Lady of Lyons " ; 
Mrs. Emma Waller, the lessee, taking 
the cast of " Pauline." Seavey, of 
New York, painted the drop-curtain, 
on which was a picture of Lake Como, 
near Bellagio. The stage has a width 
of 60, and a depth of 42 feet. The 
house has sittings for about 1,500 peo- 
ple. 



Grocers, Wholesale.— 

Henry H. Darling, Brother, & 
Co., wholesale grocers, dealers in flour 
and country produce, Nos. 305 and 
307 River Street, west side, between 
Fulton and Grand Division streets. 
The business of this well-known house 
was originated in 1834, by Samuel 
Dauchy and Brownell B. Rose, under 
the firm name of Dauchy & Rose, at 
No. 289 River Street. Their succes- 
sors have been Samuel Dauchy, in 
1839; Dauchy & Conkey, in 1842; 
Dauchy & Flood, in 1845 ; Dauchy, 
Flood, & Co., 1S52, at No. 293 River 
Street; Dauchy, Lee, & Co., in 1853, 
at No. 307 River Street ; Dauchy & 
Flack, in 1856 ; Dauchy & Amadou, 
in 1S59; Burr & C. H. Dauchy, in 



1864 ; Dauchy & Darling, in 1865, 
(Henry IrL Darling having been a sales- 
man of the two last named firms since 
April I, 1862) ; Simmons & Darling, 
in 1 868 ; Simmons, Darling, & Co., in 
1S73, (Edwin E. Darling, a salesman 
of the two last named firms since 
1866, becoming a partner) ; Henry H. 
Darling & Bro., in 1879 : ^"<^ Henry 
H. Darling, Brother, & Co., March i, 
1886 ; at which time T. Lee Bene- 
dict, a salesman in the establishrnent 
since 1876, became a partner. The 
firm commands an extensive trade in 
the city, and in Northern New York, 
Vermont, and Western Massachusetts. 

Squires, Sherry, & Galusha, 
wholesale grocers, northeast corner of 
Fifth Street and Broadway. The 
founder of this prominent house was 
Ludlow A. Battershall, who, in 1834, 
as a grocer, began business in a build- 
ing on the corner of Federal and 
North Third streets. In 1838, he be- 
came a member of the firm of L. A. 
& D. E. Battershall, No. 327 River 
Street. On its dissolution, in 1840, 
he continued the business one year, 
when he became a member of the firm 
of Hakes & Battershall. It was suc- 
ceeded by that of Hakes, Battershall, 
& Weed, in 1845 ; and it respectively 
by Battershall & Weed, in 1846 ; Bat- 
tershall & McDoual, No. 311 River 
Street ; Battershall, McDoual. & Co., 
No. 329 River Street in 1855; Mc- 
Doual, Squires, & Sherry, in 1858 ; 
Squires, Sherry & Galusha, (Nor- 
man B. Squires, John Sherry, and 
Henry Galusha,) on March i, i860. 
John L. Thompson, who became 
at that time a silent partner, 
was succeeded, in 1863, by his 
son, George S. Thompson, as 
an active partner, who with- 
drew in 1869. In 1874, James H. 
Sherry was admitted a partner, who 
died in 1882. In 1876, the firm moved 
to the four-story, brick building, now 



160 



partly occupied by it. In March, 1883, was formed in March, 1866, by the 
Arthur G. Sherry became a member brothers, James E. Molloy and Fran- 
of the firm. cis J. Molloy. 



Graves, Page, & Co., wholesale 
grocers, No. 223 River Street, oppo- 
site the Troy House. The members 
of this long-established house, Aaron 
H. Graves, Freeborn H. Page, and 
Allen Williams, became associated as 
a firm, January i, 1868. The line of 
their predecessors begins in 1835, with 
John Hunter, who, that year, engaged 
in the grocery business, at No. 183 
River Street. He was succeeded by 
Hunter & Kellogg, in 1838, at the 
same place ; Hunter, Kellogg, & Co., 
in 1839; Hunter & Kellogg, in 1S40 ; 
Hunter, Bosworth, & Co., in 1841 ; 
Hunter & Bosworth, in 1843 ; John 
Hunter, in 1846; Hunter & Graves, 
(Aaron H.), in 1848 ; Hunter. Graves, 
& Co., 1853 ; Battershall, Graves, & 
Van Alstyne, in 1858, at Nos. 221 and 
223 River Street ; Graves, Van Al- 
styne, & Co., in £866 ; Graves, Page, 
& Co., in 1868, (Aaron H. Graves, F. 
H. Page, Allen Williams, and Ralph 
Phillips). In 1874, the latter with- 
drew from the firm. 

Stevenson, Smith, & Co., whole- 
sale dealers in groceries, flour and 
produce. No. 327 River Street. The 
firm was formed in May, 1881, by W. 
John Stevenson, R. G. Smith, and 
W. H. Stevenson. The business 
was begun in 1861, by Ebenezer R. 
Collins, at No. 343 River Street. He 
was succeeded in 1862, by E. R 
Collins & Co., at 327 River Street ; 
in 1867, by Collins & Collison ; in 
1876, by R. C. CoUibon, and in 1881, 
by the present firm. 

James E. Molloy & Co., whole- 
sale grocers, tea jobbers, and coffee 
roasters. Nos. 366 and 367 River 
Street. The business was begun by 
James E. Molloy, in 1862, at No. 
367 River Street. The present firm 



Flack & Co., wholesale grocers, 
flour, produce, and seed dealers. No. 
375 River Street. Isaac G. Flack and 
George A. Flack formed the firm ni 
July, 1884. William A. Flack and 
his brother began the business at No. 
375 River River Street, in 1864, under 
the firm-name of Flack & Brother, 
who, in 1871, were succeeded by Wil- 
liam A. and Isaac G. Flack under the 
same firm-name, and ihey in turn, in 
1884, by the members of the present 
firm. 

MoREY & Lee, wholesale grocers, 
flour and commission merchants. No. 
321 RiVer Street. The firm was 
formed in 1872 by Manley W. Morey 
and Charles Lee, jr. The business 
was begun in 1S86 by Sanlord & 
Morey, at No. 371 River Street, who 
were succeeded in 1868 by Bell, 
Dauchy, & Morey, at No. 313 River 
Street ; in 1869, by Bell & Morey, at 
No. 333 River Street ; and in 1872 by 
the present firm. 

DUSENBERRY & FaIRWEATHER, 

wholesale grocers and commission 
meichants, No. 369 River Street. 
Henry O. Dusenberry and James H. 
Fairweather formed the firm on June 
19, 1879. 

Hollister & Lape, wholesale 
grocers and dealers in flour and prod- 
uce, Nos. 6 and 8 Grand Division 
Street. William H. Hollister and F. 
N. Lape formed the firm on May i, 
1884, and succeeded to the business 
begun by Hollister & Catlin in 1880, 
at No. 347 River Street. 

Wing & Large, wholesale dealers 
in fancy groceries, fruits and canned 
goods. No. 361 River Street The 
firm was formed by D. A. Wing and 
W. E. Large on January i, 1884. 



161- 



Hall Building, erected by Ben- 
jamin H. Hall in 1871, is on the cor- 
ner of First and River streets. The 
attractive structure occupies the site of 
the buildings known early in the cen- 
tury as Lane's Row. 

Halls.— 

Apollo Hall, southeast corner 
of Congress and River streets. 

Association Hall, Athenaeum 
Building, No 10 First Street. 

Cannon Place Hall, No. 13 
Second Street. 

City Hall, southeast corner of 
Third and State streets. 

Druids' Hall, No 197 River 
Street. 

Emmet Hall, No. 8 Third Street. 

Harmony Hall, corner of Third 
and River streets. 

Keenan Hall, northwest corner 
of Broadway and Third Street. 

Lyceum Hall, No. 10 Third 
Street. 

Mechanics' Hall, Mill Street, 
opposite Spring Street. 

Moulders' Hall, southwest cor- 
corner of State and River streets. 

Music Hall, Troy Savings Bank 
Building, northeast corner of Second 
and State streets. 

Odd Fellows' Hall, No. 285 
River Street. 

Orange Hall, No. 9 First Street. 

Rand's Concert Hall, southwest 
corner of Congress and Third streets. 

Stevens' Hall, No. 134 River 
street. 

Temple of Honor Hall, No. 
269 River Street. 



Temperance Hall, St. Mary's 
Avenue. 

Handkerchief Manufactur- 
ers. — 

Herrmann, Aukam, & Co., manu- 
facturers of handkerchiefs, women's 
plain and embroidered skirts, 
towels, and hem-stitched goods, 
Burdett Building, No. 251 River 
street. Frederick G. Aukam en- 
gaged in business in Troy, in 
May, 1862. Three years later 
he began manufacturing men's 
linen collars and cuffs, shirts, hand- 
kerchiefs, and women's underwear, at 
No. 377 River Street, whence he 
moved in the following year to the 
building, Nos. 44 and 46 Federal 
Street. In December, 1873, he be- 
came associated with Adolph Herr- 
mann and they formed the firm of 
Hermann, Aukam, & Co., manufac- 
turing men's collars and cuffs, shirt 
fronts, and women's under-clothing, at 
Nos. 78 and 80 Federal Street. On 
March 20, 18 So, the firm's factory was 
burned. Having erected on the 
northwest corner of the Stone Road 
and Lake Avenue, in the town of 
Brunswick, a short distance east of 
the city limits, a large brick building, 
60 by 130 feet, the firm occupied it in 
June, 1 88 1. This valuable property 
was destroyed by fire on September 
20, 1885. In December, 1885, the 
firm occupied the four upper stories 
of the Burdett Building. The firm 
has the distinction of having 
manufactured in 1865 the first cotton 
handkerchiefs made in the United 
States. The firm's salesrooms are 
on the four floors of the building, 
Nos. 31 and 33 Thomas Street, New 
York. 

Hardware. — 

Howe Sc Co., hardware, Nos. 181 
and 183 River Street, west side, be- 
tween State and Congress streets. 



163 



The founder of this well-known mer- 
cantile establishment was Philip 
Heartt, who as early as the year 1791 
engaged in the saddlery and harness 
business in a building on the east side 
of River Street, nearly opposite that 
of the present firm of Howe & Co. 
In or before the year 1797, he and his 
brother Benjamin formed the firm of 
P. & B. Heartt, hardware merchants, 
their store being immediately north 
of Asa Anthony's, on the northwest 
corner of State and River streets, and 
south of that of D. & I. Merritt. On 
Friday morning, December 8, 1797, 
the firm's store and that of Asa An- 
thony were burned to the ground. 
The firm resumed business in the new 
building, erected on the site of the old 
one, and existed until the latter part 
of the year 1800, when Philip Heartt 
succeeded to the business. About the 
year 1805, the firm of Heartt & Smith 
was formed; the "sign of the pad- 
lock " hanging before their store. 
About the year 1812, perhaps some 
years earlier, the partnership was dis- 
solved, and the business was again 
conducted by Philip Heartt. Some 
years afterward the firm of P. Heartt 
& Sons was formed. On June 20, 
1820, the firm's six-story, brick build- 
ing, on the site of the present one of 
Howe & Co., was burned, as was 
also the firm's three-story, brick build- 
ing, also filled with hardware, on 
the opposite side of the street. Af- 
terward, until August, 1821, the firm 
occupied the building " one door south 
of the postoffice," near the northwest 
corner of River and Congress streets. 
The firm then took possession of its new 
building, " five doors above the post- 
office," now occupied by Howe & Co. 
On March 7, 1827, the firm of Philip 
Heartt & Sons was dissolved ; its mem- 
bers having been Jonas Coe Heartt, 
James Van Brackle, and Albert P. 
Heartt. The business was then con- 
tinued by Jonas C. Heartt, Albert P. and 



Philip T. Heartt, under the name of J. 
C. Pleartt & Brothers. In 1840, by 
the withdrawal of Albert P. Heartt, 
the firm became J. C. Heartt & 
Biother. By the admission of Charles 
S. Heartt in 1845, it became J. C. 
Heartt, Brother, & Co. By the part- 
nership of Philip T. and Charles S. 
Heartt, and James H. Howe, the 
firm-name, in 1847 became Heartt & 
Co. In 1852, Philip T. Heartt with- 
drew. In 1854, Jonas S. Heartt was 
admitted. In 1856, the only members 
of the firm were Charles S. Heartt 
and James H. Howe. In 1864, the 
building, No. 183 River Street, was 
added to the store. Franklin Wright 
and F. Gilbert Brown became mem- 
bers of the firm on February i, 1867. 
In 1875, the firm of Howe & Co., suc- 
ceeded to the business ; the copart- 
ners being James H. Howe, Franklin 
Wright, F. Gilbert Brown, and John 
K. Howe. In 1879, James H. Howe 
withdrew. On January i, 1884, the 
copartnership of Franklin Wright, F. 
Gilbert Brown, and Edward H. Sims 
was formed under the name of Howe 
& Co. The large and numerous 
channels of the firm's extensive busi- 
ness extend through the greater part 
of the state of New York, north of the 
latitude of Troy, and also through the 
adjacent state of Vermont. 

J. M. Warren & Co., Nos. 245 
and 247 River Street, have widely 
been known for more than thirty 
years as a firm conducting the largest 
hardware business in the city. Their 
attractive building, fronting fifty feet 
on River Street and extending two 
hundred along the south side of 
Broadway to the river, was erected in 
1870, and contains in its spacious sale 
and store-rooms the most complete 
stock of general hardware, iron and 
steel, and house furnishing goods in 
Northern New York. Although the 
greater part of the firm's extensive 



165 



business is within the limits of the state 
of New York, still numerous orders 
from dealers in other states between 
Nova Scotia and Mexico are received. 
The firm has also a large manufac- 
turing establishment on the north- 
west corner of Second and Jefferson 
streets, where a great quantity of tin 
and sheet-iron ware is made for the 
trade. The business was begun in 
1809 by Jacob Hart and Henry Nazro 
under the name of Hart & Nazro, sell- 
ing "hardware, ironmongery, cutlery 
and saddlery", at No. 6 Lane's Row, 
on the east side of River Street, near 
the corner of First Street. In the 
great fire of Tuesday, June 20, 1820, 
Hart & Nazro lost nearly all the con- 
tents of their store, in the three-storj' 
brick building, owned by Aaron and 
Derick Lane, then occupying the site 
of the Hall Building. On the erection 
of the new building, immediately after 
the fire, they occupied the store known 
as No. 3 Lane's Row, nearly opposite 
the store of Esaias Warren & Co., on 
the west side of River Street. On 
May 28, 1821, the firm was succeeded 
by that of Hart & Pitcher, which 
Jacob Hart and Samuel Pitcher then 
formed. On October 26, 1824, Moses 
Craft, Isaac B. Hart, and Samuel 
Pitcher, as the firm of Craft, Hart, & 
Pitcher, became their successors. The 
building, No. 207 River Street, was oc- 
cupied about that time by the firm. 
On the withdrawal of Moses Craft in 
1830, the firm of Hart & Pitcher con- 
tinued the business until June 24, 
1S31, when John M. Card was asso- 
ciated as a member of the firm of 
Pitcher, Hart, & Card. In 1832, Hart 
& Card succeeded to the business. 
From 1834 to 1836, it was conducted 
by Isaac B. Hart, when he was suc- 
ceeded by Hart, Lesley, & Warren ; 
Isaac B. Hart, George Lesley, and 
William H. Warren becoming co- 
partners. On March i, 1840, Joseph 
M. Warren was admitted, and the 



firm-name was changed to that of 
Warrens, Hart, & Lesley. On May i, 
1847, the store was moved from 207 to 
to Nos. 241 and 243 River Street, im- 
mediately south of the present build- 
ing occupied by J. M. Warren & Co. 
On February i, 1855, Joseph M. 
Warren and Charles W. Tillinghast 
formed the firm of J. M. Warren & 
Co. On February i, 1864, they ad- 
mitted Walter P. Warren, and in 
1867, Thomas A. Tillinghast. In 
1871, Walter P. Warren withdrew. 
On the death of Thomas A. Tilling- 
hast, June 10, 1879, J. M. Warren and 
Charles W, Tillinghast succeeded to 
the business. In 1S70 the firm occu- 
pied the present building, Nos. 245 
and 247 River Street. 

Curtis & Rickerson, manufac- 
turers, importers, and jobbers of car 
riage and saddlery hardware. Green's 
Building, Nos. 407 to 413 Broadway, 
south side, between Fourth and P^ifth 
streets. The business is one which 
has had a most rapid growth during 
the last quarter of the present cen- 
tury. Many of the articles found in 
the large stock of this well-known re- 
jjository are tho.'C which have been 
invented and manufactured since it 
was established in 1867 by John Con- 
nolly. They exhibit not only the in- 
genuity of man, but give expression 
to the thought of contributing to the 
use and comfort of both man and 
beast. The different things used in 
the construction of wagons and car- 
riages, the various appliances em- 
ployed in the manufacture of harness, 
and the unique adaptations and con- 
veniences intended for decoration and 
service, special to these branches of 
business, are to be found in the stock 
of this wholesale and retail establish- 
ment. JDouble and single harness of 
all grades, riding saddles, carriage 
and sleigh robes, horse blankets, fly- 
nets, whips, sleigh bells, stable 



\m 



luniilnro, trunks, Iravolliuj^ buj^s, ii-c 
•ind roller skates, nnd other trappiiij^s 
ami aiipeiulages arc aUo largely dealt 
in by its cntcrprisin{i proprietors. 
(.'urtis iK: Riekerson are the sole agents 
in the Uiiite.l Slates for the sale of 
Powell I'v Smith's [intent horse-lnil 
holder, which is regarded as one of the 
liest eontrivanees for the purpose for 
whieh it was ilosigned. 'i'hey also 
manufacture Coy's patent riiij; reins, 



l»artner in 1872, when the firm-name 
was changed to that of Connollys t\t 
Curtis. In 1S73, I'M ward J . Connolly 
and Montgomery Ci. C'urtis fornieil 
the firm of Connolly X Cuilis. On 
January i, 187S, Montgomery (1. 
Curtis succeeded to the husiness, who 
on I'"eliruary 1, 1SS6, was sui:ceeded hy 
the lirm of Curtis iv: Riekerson; 
Seward Riekerson hecominga partner 
in the business with Mont. ('•. Curtis. 





'^^ 


^1 11 ^1 ;i 1 fl 


1 'I'l^ri 




w„. ;^'|r: 



:-';^SM, 



CURTIS \ inCl^l'-.liSON, 407 AND 4I3 liRCMDWAV. 



wliich are also very [lopular. 
The Ibuiuler of the business was John 
Connolly, deceased, who, as a dealer 
in saddlery, hardware, and coach trim- 
mings, engaged in it in 1S57, in the 
same building in which is the present 
store. In i86(), he and Montgomery 
(i. Curtis formed the partnership of 
Connolly & Curtis, dealers in coach 
and saddlery liardwarc. Edward J. 
Connolly, the son of the senior mem- 
ber of the lirm, was admitted as a co- 



Hatters.— 

E/RA W. Boui^irroN & Co., hat- 
ters and furriers, Nos 248 and 250 
River Street, corner of Broadway. 
The l)usiness was begun by Ceorge 
I''ry in 1822, who advertised that he 
had opened a new hat store " a few 
rods north of E. Lasell's, River 
Street," and ofTered " for sale, at 
wholesale and retail, a general assort- 
ment of men's, boy's and infants' 
hats," among which were " very supe- 



167 



rior water-proof, bla*;!: and drab f>ea- 
ver." He and Henry Rrru<s«4eau, cm 
Aagui-.t 30, 1825, formed the firm of 
Fry & kousijeau, " at the old %tand, 
'the site of Harmony Hall;, a few 
doors north of E. IJorlon% inn, and 
directly opposite the hip-yard." In 
1^.42, Ezra W, & E. Henry BotJghton, 
^r,;';.- the firm-narne of E. and H. 
ho'jghton, fctjcxeeded to the basines*. 
at No. 238 River Street; in 184S, E. 
}I, B'^ughton ; in 1849, R'>ti»«*au & 
B^^ughton. flienry Rou-^i-eau and Ezra 
\V. j'v.ughfon>; in i8£6, E. W, Bougli- 
ton, a". No. 2£0 River .Street ; in 1871, 
E. W. Boughton ^ Co.. (Ezra W. 
Houghton, Henry Broti^hton, ana Ed- 
ward M. Botjghton; ; in 1874, E. W. 
Botaghton A; Co , ^Ezra W. Boaghton 
and Henry Brought/^n; ; on Febniary 
r- 1881, E. W. IVmcrhrrm Ac 0> , (^E/ra 



Str'iet, and \o, 9 Fourth Stre«t, 
Henry C, Sal i '.bury and Charlc* W. 
Johnston formed the firrn April 24, 
1 386. 

Haver Island, r^e-w^en tr,'; 

third and fourth fyranche , of the 
.Mohawk River ar>d t.he Hud*/>n 
River. It i» -.aid to have d';rive'i it* 
name from the I>utch v/ord, //aver, 
oat». On a parchment map of Ren*- 
sela^rr*wv','V tt^'^^': ■%V^n'» 'h*; vear 
i6^; ' ' ' e- 

at»: 'le 

Irr -h 

••;.: ,d 

an'j d 

aUo Gf: n 

the last . d, 

the high'*i.y/f- ,,.';• Ajiva/i/ t,v .>araU/ga : 
thft fr/Tjr branchT-* or 'pronto of 






'ioes 



Stamper ic Strait, fHenry Stamp- 
er and E. ' ■ 
men'?, farr 
Street, E,...- -. ; .. 

.^DOEJSDA-j 

JosKFjr p. Dtr^AX, ha* - ^ ' 
N'os. 208 and 2T0 R;ver .S 
*he boiine*» in 1874, J^-- - - --- 

J' >.er Street, and in 1876 rjnoTe<l t/j 
:./-. present store. 

A ClaicK, hats, furs, and men'.< 
foFDMhing goods. No, 65 Congrex? 
Street. Established in 1876. 

Walsh ' 

'runk't, ar. 



th- 

of 

General 



side of 

ford. rSi 



;r 

7, 
'■/ 



-; 



Hibemiamj, Ancdent Order 
of, embraces three divuions in the 
city. No, I meets at Apollo Hall; 
No. 2 at Emmet Hall ; and No. 5 at 
Moulder/ HalL 

Home for the Aged Poor, 

ted by 



, . _^ ;_ Honor. Araoniar: Lo£:;o?: of, 

first an'; of 

.....yjs, hats, caps, eadi m-. v. ,. v->,>. 

bags. No. 344 River Street. 



168 



Honor, Knights of.— Mara- 
thon Lodge, No. 2,711, meets the 
second and fourth Monday evenings 
of each month at Druids' Hall, No. 
197 River Street. 

Horse-Car Railroads. — (See 
Railroads.) 

Hospitals. — See Marshall In- 
firmary, and Troy Hospital.) 

Hotels.— 

American House, southeast cor- 
ner of Third and Fulton streets. 

Everett HoirsE, northwest corner 
of Fulton and Sixth streets. 

Mansion House, northeast cor- 
ner of Second Street and Broadway. 

Northern Hotel, No. 456 River 
Street. 

Revere House, Nos, 551, 553 
and 555 Broadway, opposite Union 
Depot. 

Troy House, intersection of First 
and River streets. 

House Furnishing Goods. 

LocKWOOD & BuELL, (Thomas W. 
Lockwood, jr., and William C. Buell,) 
wholesale and retail dealers in house 
furnishing goods, wood and willow 
ware, Nos. 209 and 211 River Street. 

House of the Good Shep- 
herd, on the corner of Peoples' Av- 
enue and Fourteenth Street, is a five- 
story, brick building. The corner- 
stone was laid by the Right Rev. 
Bishop McNierny, on Sunday after- 
noon, May 9, 1886. The house is a 
home for fallen women desiring to 
lead a pure life. 

House, Rensselaer County 
Alms, south of Spring Avenue, 



entrance near Maple Avenue. In 
1 82 1, a part of the present property 
was purchased. The building then 
erected on it was called The House of 
Industry, In Spafford's Gazetteer of 
the state of New York, published in 
1824, the following remarks were 
made respecting it : "The county of 
Rensselaer has taken the lead in this 
state in the introduction of Count 
Rumford's plan for the suppression of 
pauperism, and has erected a house of 
industry, connected with a valuable 
farm, and the necessary appendages 
for enabling the poor to supply their 
own wants. The plan is to help 
the poor to the means of helping 
themselves by employment at all kinds 
of business as they are most capable 
of performing. The system is an ad- 
mirable one, a truly philosophic ap- 
plication of the precepts of Christian 
morality and charity, which every 
philanthropist must ardently desire to 
see crowned with success." For a 
number of years, the labor of the pau- 
pers was given by contract to persons 
who paid one dollar a week to the 
county for each person employed by 
them. The successive contractors had 
the use of the farm and the service of 
such of the paupers as were able to 
work. The keepers of the alms-house 
are now appointed by the superinten- 
dents of the county poor. The farm 
has an area of 160 acres. In 1882, 
the present buildings were erected. 
They are of brick and the largest are 
connected by covered wooden corrid- 
ors. The keeper's house, a two-story 
building, 42 by 58 feet, is between the 
men and women's apartment-build- 
ings, each two stories high, 55 by 160 
feet. North of the men's building is 
the men's hospital, two stories high, 
35 by 45 feet. South of the women's 
building is the women's hospital, 
having the same dimensions as the 
men's hospital. Adjoining the keep- 
er's house, on the west side, is the 



169 



dining liall building, onestory high, 
48 by 60 feet, in which are two dining 
rooms, one for the women and the 
other for the men. Adjoining and west 
of the latter building is the cooking 
apartment building, one story high, 32 
by 36 feet, and adjoining and west of 
it, a one-story, biick building, 40 by 
60 feet, one-half of which is used for a 
laundry, and the other for a boiler 
room. The latter contains two boil- 
ers for generating steam for healing 
purposes, and one for cooking. West 
of the latter building, is a brick coal 
house. The old main building is now 



ham has been keeper since December 
I, 1885. Clinton B. lierrick, M. D., 
is the county-house physician. 



Implements. Agricultural.— 

Cran[)all & Morrison, whose 
agricultural warehouse and seed- 
store is on the southwest corner of 
Front and Grand Division streets, 
west of River Street, continue llie 
business begun by Henry Warren, in 
1842, at No. 469 River Street, oppo- 
site the Northern Hotel. The latter, 
desiring better facilities for his in- 



% n 1 11 1 i ! 11 ' ' 

•|fl|l|l 1:^11' 

Jt^.'i^hi -Ai m 'm _.«^., -., , ---iff ^S 



!!a^koiiU,SE^aSTDRE!|;:# d| 



CRANDALL & MORRISON S WAREHOUSE. 



used for a barn. On the first floor of 
the keeper's house is the office of the 
keeper and that of the county phy- 
sician. On the second floor, on the 
west side of the building, is the chapel, 
in which on Sunday mornings, at 8 
o'clock, religious services are con- 
ducted by Roman Catholics, and at 
ID o'clock by Protestants. The pau- 
pers now in the building number, at 
this writing. 2S5 ; two-thirds being 
men. In the winter of 1885-6, the 
maximum number of paupers in the 
buildings was 404. Calvin B. Dun- 



creasing business, moved in 1848 to 
the building Nos. 331 and 333 River 
Street. In i860, he occupied the 
building No. 309 River Street, where 
four years later he with George M. 
Taylor formed the firm of Warren 
& Taylor. Having erected the large, 
four-story brick, warehouse, on the 
southwest corner of Mechanic and 
Grand Division streets, they occupied 
it in i86g. In the spring of i88r, 
Henry- Warren died, and in January, 
1S82, George M. Taylor. Louis S. 
Crandall and George H. Morrison, 



23 



170 



under the firm-name of Crandall & 
Morrison, having purchased the stock 
of the establishment, conducted the 
business until August i, 18S5, when 
George H. Morrison sold his interest 
in it to his brother. Leonard Mor- 
rison. 

In farming implements, the firm 
makes a large display and their cus- 
tomers have every facility given 
them to examine the various machines 
and tools contained in the spacious 
warehouse. Plows, harrows, corn and 
seed planters, grain drills, cultivators, 
horse rakes, scythes and cradles, hay 
tedders, field rolleis, churns cc-rn- 
shellers, feed-cutters, fan mills, 
forks, shovels, spades, and scoops, are 
but a part of the numerous imple- 
ments, needed by every thrifty and 
economical farmer, which the enter- 
prising firm has for sale. Lawn 
mowers, hydraulic rams, pumps, 
wheel-barrows, drain pipe, and tile 
are also included in the varied stock. 
In fertilizers the firm has different 
classes : superphosphate of lime, 
muriate of potash, ground bone. 
Pacific and Peruvian guanos, and 
plant food. In the grindstone de- 
partment are found Black River, In- 
dependence, Berea, and Lake Huron 
grindstones of all sizes, together with 
frames and hangings, both wooden 
and iron. The firm has an extensive 
trade in field and garden seeds. 

H. W. GORDINIER, argricultural 
implements, field and garden seeds, 
machines, grain, feed and hay, Nos. 
357 and 35g River Street. Estab- 
lished 1853. 

Infirmary, The Mai'shall, 
and Rensselaer County Luna- 
tie Asylum, east side of Linden 
Avenue and near Pawling Avenue. 
The different buildings are seclusively 
situated on an area of land of about 
sixteen acres in extent. The in- 



firmary, a brick building, 45 by 100 
feet, erected in 1850, is three stories 
high, exclusive of the basement. The 
projector of the institution, Benjamin 
Marshall, deceased, originally planned 
it for a home for superannuated and 
indigent workmen, but by the advice 
of his friends, it was built for the ac- 
commodation and care of such sick 
persons as might be unable to have 
medical care and attendance else- 
where. The building and its site, 
originally valued at $35,000, was the 
gift of the founder. The institution 
was incoiporated by the name of 
"The Marshall Infirmary in the city 
of Troy," June 20, 1851. The ad- 
ministration of its affairs was intrusted 
to twenty-seven jiersons annually 
elected governors of tlic institution. 
Every person contributing ten dollars 
to the institution and annually paying 
three dollars to its sup[)ort is a mem- 
ber of the corporation ; and every 
person contributing one hundred 
dollars and annually paying there- 
after five dollars to the corporation 
besides being a member of it, "is en- 
titled to recommend one sick peison 
to be supported without other chatge 
at the infirmary for six weeks in each 
year of his contribution ;" and every 
person contributing one thousand 
dollars is not only deemed a life-mem- 
ber but is also entitled to recommend 
one sick person to be cared for with- 
out charge "for fifty-two weeks in 
each year ;" and every person annually 
paying ten dollars is entitled to re- 
commend one sick person to the 
care of the institution "for four weeks 
in each year without charge." In 1S59, 
the three-story, brick building, south of 
and adjoining the infirmary, was built 
for an insane asylum by the super- 
visors of Rensselaer County. They 
also erected in iS6t, the second luna- 
tic asylum, 40 by 60 feet, built of 
brick, three stories high, beyond the 
hill, east of the infirmary building. 



171 



On the east side and adjoining the in- 
firmary and the insane asylum is a 
three story brick building, 31 by 45 feet, 
in which are the chapel, dining rooms, 
laundry, kitchen, aud bakery. For 
the erection of the last named build- 
ings, the supervisors of Rensselaer 
County gave $12,000 ; the site"? of 
which the governors of the Marshall 
Infirmary conveyed to the county by 
deeds, the governors "agreeing to 
take charge of all the county 'lunatics,' 
and all ca^es of pestilential diseases" 
sent by "the respective overseers of 
ihe poor, at a sum sufficient to cover 
the cost of the case." The two story 
brick building, 20 by 70 feet, south of 
and adjoining the insane asylum 
was built in 18S0, and is used for the 
care of refractory patients. At this 
writing, eighty-five insane and twenty 
sick persons are receiving care at the 
institution. Joseph D. Lomax, M. D., 
has been resident medical superin- 
tendent of the institution since Octo- 
ber, 1863. 

Institute, Rensselaer Poly- 
technic, head of Broadway, was 
founded November 5, 1S24, by 
Stephen Van Rensselaer, the last but 
one of the patroons of Rens-elaers- 
wyck. He fitted the Farmers' Bank 
Building, on the northwest corner of 
Middleburgh and River streets for the 
use of the school at his own expense 
and provided the different classrooms 
with suitable furniture and necessary 
apparatus. He appointed eight per- 
sons trustees of the institution; the 
Rev. Samuel Blatchford, pastor of the 
First Presbyterian Church of Lansing- 
burgh, Elias Parmelee of Lansing- 
burgh, John Cramer and Guert Van 
Schoonhoven of Waterford, Simeon 
. DeWitt, and T. Romeyn Beck of 

Albany, and John D. Dickinson and 
Jedediah Tracy of Troy. He also ap- 
pointed the Rev. Samuel Blatchford 
president of the institution, and Amos 



Eaton of Troy, senior professor, and 
Lewis C. Beck of Albany, junior pro- 
fessor. At the first meeting of the 
trustees, on December 29, that year. 
the name Rensselaer School was given 
the institution. The opening of the 
school on January 3, 1825, was thus 
announced: "The Hon Stephen Van 
Rensselaer having established a school 
near the northern limits of Troy for 
teaching the physical sciences with 
their application to the arts of life ; 
having appointed Professor A. Eaton 
and L. C. Beck to give courses of in- 
struction particularly calculated to 
prepare operative chemists and prac- 
tical naturalists, properly qualified to 
act as teachers in villages and 
school districts ; having appointed an 
agent and furnished him with funds 
for procuring apparatus and fitting up a 
laboratory, library room, et cetera ; 
and the agent having given notice to 
the president of the institution that 
the requisite collections and prepara- 
tions are completed, it seems proper 
to give public notice of these circum- 
stances. Accordingly the public is 
respectfully notified that everything is 
in readiness at the -Rensselaer School 
for giving instructions in chemistry, 
Experimeutal Philosophy, and Natural 
History, with their application to 
agriculture, domestic economy, and 
the arts ; and also for teaching Land 
Surveying." 

On the first Monday in January, 
1825, the term began. The school 
was incorporated March 21, 1826. 
Twelve members of the first class were 
graduated in 1826. The name of the 
school was changed to that of the 
Rensselaer Institute, by an act of 
legislature, passed April 26, 1832. The 
remoteness of the institute from the 
central part of Troy led to the re- 
moval of the school, in April, 1834, to 
the Van der Heyden mansion, on tlie 
southwest corner of Eighth and (Jrand 
Division streets. In 1843, the Infant 



-"^i 




173 



School lot and the'buildings on it, ap- 
praised at $6,500, were offered by the 
city to the trustees of the institute as 
a gift should William P. Van Rens- 
selaer give them a sum of money 
equal to the value of the property. 
The last patroon of Rensselaerswyck 
having complied with the terms, the 
institute was moved, in 1S44, to the 
Infant School Building on the lot, on 
the northeast corner of State and 
Sixth streets. On April 8, 1S61, an 
act was passed by the legislature 
changing the name of the Rensselaer 
Institute and incorporating the Rens- 
selaer Polytechnic Institute. In the 
great conflagration of Saturday, May 
10, 1862, the institute-building, con- 
taining valuable apparatus, cabinets, 
and records, was burned. On the 
following Wednesday, the course of in- 
struction was continued to the close 
of the term in the Troy University, 
now the Provincial Theological 
Seminary. In the fall of 1862, rooms 
were rented in the Vail Building, on 
the northeast corner of Congress and 
River streets, where the school con- 
tinued until May r, 1864, when the 
new building at the head of Broad- 
way was occupied. The attractive 
brick structure, four stories high, is 
115 feet long and 50 wide. The cost 
of its erection was about $50,000 ; the 
greater part of the sum having been 
obtained by subscription. The 
building contains the recitation, lec- 
ture, and drawing rooms, the cabinet 
of natural history, the library, and the 
apartments of the janitor. The 
Winslow Laboratory, north of it, 70 
feet long and 40 wide, three stories 
high, built of brick, was named in 
honor of John F. Winslow, a former 
president of the institute, now resid- 
ing at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. On the 
first floor is the metallurgical labora- 
tory, on the second the chemical labor- 
atory, and on the third are the lecture, 
recitation, and apparatus rooms. The 



building was erected in 1865-66. It 
was partly burned on Wednesday 
morning, August 27, 1884. The Wil- 
liam Proudfit astronomical observatory 
on the hill, immediately east of the in- 
stitute-building, was erected in 1877- 
78 for the school by the late Eben- 
ezer Proudfit of Troy as a memorial of 
his son, formerly a student attending 
the institute. The central part is 30 
feet square, with north, south, and 
east wings ; the total length lieing 76 
feet, the breadth 60 feet. The central 
part is two stories high, surmounted 
with a paper dome, 29 feet in diam- 
eter, beneath which is a large stone 
pier for an equatorial telescope. In the 
east wing are the piers for meridian in- 
struments. The other wings are for 
computing, clock, and library rooms. 

The cabinets of natural history 
are exceedingly valuable and con- 
tain a large number of fine speci- 
mens of the kingdoms to which 
they belong. The collection of 
minerals made by Henry B. Nason, 
Ph. D., M. D., LL. D., embraces 
about 500 specimens. The lithol- 
ogy of the slate of New York is finely 
illustrated by a large collection of 
stones contributed by Joseph MuUin, 
C. E., of Watertown, N. Y., as a me- 
morial of his brother, Anthony T, E. 
MuUin, C. E., late passed assistant 
engineer in the U. S. navy. The 
collection of shells made by the late 
Henry Rousseau of Lansmgburgh, 
contains about 10,000 specimens. A 
number of beautiful corals and about 
500 shells were added to this 
cabinet by Mrs. Warren, wife of 
the late George B. Warren, of 
Troy. About 5,000 specimens of 
American and European plants, and 
about 300 pieces of wood from all 
parts of the world form valuable 
herbaria. The collection of birds in- 
cludes 140 specimens presented by 
the Troy Lyceum of Natural History; 
220 collected by the late George B. 



174 



Warren of Troy and given by Mrs. 
Warren as a memorial of her husband ; 
and a number presented by John Ho- 
bart Warren, of Hoosick, N. Y. 

The library amlains many valuable 
scientific works In 1882, the gift of 
the professional library of the late 
Alexander L. Holley of Troy greatly 
increased the number of volumes. 

A brick gymnasium is now erect- 
ing on the south side of Broad- 
way, east of Seventh Street, near the 
gateway to the institute grounds. 

On June 11, 1883, Mrs. Mary E. 
Hart gave $60,000 in invested funds 
and cash to the institution as a memo- 
rial of her deceased husband, William 
Howard Hart, to be " employed exclu- 
sively for endowing in the Rensselaer 
Polytechnic Institute a professorship 
to be known and designated as the 
William Howard Hart professorship of 
rational and technical mechanics." 

As justly said in the Register of the 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for 
1885 : " Since its foundation, the in- 
stitute has sent forth a considerable 
number of graduates, who — as profes- 
sors and teachers of the mathematical 
and physical sciences, as practical 
chemists and geologists, and as en- 
gineers in the various departments of 
constructive and topographical art, — 
have contributed to the increase and 
diffusion of science, as well as its ap- 
plication to the business pursuits of 
life, with a success, to which, it is be- 
lieved, the institute may refer with 
becoming confidence and just pride." 

The following officers of the insti- 
tution have directed its affairs from 
1824 to 1886: 

Stephen Van Rensselaer, LL. D., 
patroon, Albany, with power to ap- 
point examiners, 1824-39. 

Presidents : Rev. Samuel Blatch- 
ford, D. D., of Lansingburgh, 1824-28; 
Rev. John Chester, D. D., of Albany, 
1828-29 ; Rev. Eliphalet Nott, D. D., 
LL. D., (president of Union College,) 



Schenectady, 1829-45 ; Rev. Nathan 
S. S. Beman, D. D.. LL. D., Troy, 
1845-65 ; Hon. John F. Winslow, 
Troy, i86^-68; Thomas C. Brin.smade, 
M. D., Troy, 1868-68 ; Hon, James 
Forsyth, Troy, 1S68 to present time. 

Vice-presidents : Orville L. Holley, 
Troy, (surveyor-general of the state 
of New York,) 1824-31 ; T. Romeyn 
Beck, M. D., Albany, (2d vice-presi- 
dent) 1824-28; Hon. David Buel, 
jr., Troy, (2d vice-president,) 1829-60 ; 
Rev. N. S. S. Beman, D. D., Troy, 
1842-45; William P. Van Rensselaer, 
Greenbush, 1845-64; Thomas C. Brins- 
made, M. D., Troy, 1S64-68 ; Hon. 
George Gould, Troy, 1868-60; E. 
Thompson Gale, C. E.. Troy. 1869-72: 
Hon. William Guiley, C. E., Troy, 
1872 to present time. 

Secretaries: Moses Hale, M. D., 
1824-35 ; Rev. E. Hopkins, 1S35-41 ; 
Hon. Isaac McConihe, 1841-42; Hon. 
Joseph White, 1842-49; Stephen 
Wickes, M. D., 1849-54; Rev. John 
B. Tibbits, 1854-61 ; Hon. William 
E. Gurley, C. E., 1861-72 ; William 
H. Doughty, C. E., 1872 to present 
time. 

Treasurers : Hon. Hanford N. Lock- 
wood ; 1824-44 ; Thomas C. Brins- 
made, M. D., 1844-47 ; Hon. Day 
Otis Kellogg, 1847-50; William H. 
Young, 1850 to present time. 

Insurance Agencies, Fire. — 

Ogden, Calder, & Co., general in- 
surance agents, No. 18 First Street. 
Established in 1824. (See Bankers 
AND Brokers. 

Neher & Carpenter, general in- 
surance agents ; also bankers and bro- 
kers, No. 5 First Street. Established 
in 1824. Philip H. Neher and James 
H. Carpenter formed the firm on May 
I, 1883. 

Kennedy & Buell, general fire in- 
surance agents. Athenaeum, No. 10 



176 



First Street. Established in 1842. 
William S. Kennedy and Frederick F. 
Buell formed the firm on February 25, 
1878. 

CiPPERLY, Cole, & Haslehurst, 
bankers and general insurance agents 
No. II First Street. The members of 
this well-known firm previous to their 
association in business were members 
of three early established insurance 
agencies in the city. The senior mem- 
ber, John W. Cipperly, engaged in 
the business in May, 1855, taking tha 
agency of the Hartford Fire and the 
Albany insurance companies. He 
and Grove M. Harwocd, in 1857, 
formed the firm of Harwood & Cip- 
perly, insurance agents, doing business 
at No. 233 River Street. John C. 
Cole, who, from March 25, 1S54. had 
been a clerk in the insurance office of 
Spencer Cole, at No. 253 River Street, 
became his partner in 1S55 ; the firm 
taking the name of S. & J. C. Cole, 
then agents of the Phenix Insurance 
Company of Brooklyn. On the disso- 
lution of the firm, in the following 
year, John C. Cole continued the busi- 
ness at No. 253 River Street. In 
1S65, |ohn W. Cipperly and John C. 
Cole became associated as partners 
under the firm-name of Cipperly & 
Cole, in&utance agents, at No. 233 
River Street, and, in January, 1868, 
moved to No. ir First Street. In 
January, 1870, the firm purchased the 
business of Allen & Rogers, (Freder- 
ick P. Allen and Charles H. Rogers), 
insurance agents. No. 5 Mansion 
House Block, by which Cipperly & 
Cole became agents of the Imperial 
Fire Insurance Company of London. 
In 1874, Theodore E. Haslehurst, 
who from 1868 had held a clerkship 
in the banking and insurance office 
of Benjamin A. Tillinghast & Son, at 
No. 17 First Street, and had been a 
member of the firm of Benjamin A. 
Tillinghast, Son, & Co., from 1870, 
on its dissolution in 1874, became as- 



sociated with John W. Cipperly and 
John C. Cole, under the firm-name of 
Cipperly, Cole, & Haslehurst, at No. 
II First Street. By Theodore E. 
Haslehurst's admission as a partner, 
the firm obtained the agency of the 
/Etna Insurance Company of Hart- 
ford, Conn. In 1874, the firm en- 
gaged in the banking, brokerage, and 
foreign exchange business, and became 
agents of a number of proininent 
ocean steamship lines. The firm has 
also the agency of ihe Travellers' 
Life and Accident Insurance Company 
of Hartford. 

Gilbert Geer, jr., & Co., real es- 
tate, loan, and insurance brokers, No. 

5 Mansion House Block, Washington 
Square. This long-established insur- 
ance agency was founded by the senior 
member of the firm, Gilbert Geer, jr., 
in February. 185S, at No 282 River 
Street. In 1866, he and Charles H. 
Van Arnam formed the firm of Geer 

6 Van Arnam, insurance agents. In 
February, 1870, the firm moved to No. 
5 Mansion House Block. On the 
dissolution of the firm, in January, 
1S72, Gilbert Geer, jr., conducted the 
business until January i, 1881, when 
he and William C. Gccr became asso- 
ciated in It, under the firm-name of 
Gilbert Geer, jr., & Co. As agents 
the firm represents the following prom- 
inent insurance companies : German 
American Insurance Company, United 
States Fire Insurance Company, Amer- 
ican Fire Insurance Company, Citi- 
zens' Insurance Company of New 
York, National Fire Insurance Com- 
pany of New York, Rochester Ger- 
man Insurance Company of Roches- 
ter, and the New York Bowery Fire 
Insurance Company. The firm is also 
agents for the Massachusetts Mutual 
Life Insurance Company. As real 
estate agents, the enterprising firm an- 
nually eff"ects the sale and rent of a 
great number of properties, and does 
a large business in loans. 



177 



Kelly & Knox, general insurance 
agents, Burdett Building, No. 253 
River Street. Es'ablished 1855. W. 
John Kelly and John H. Knox formed 
the firm on January i, 1880. 

Macdonald & VanAlstyne. gen- 
eral insurance agents, No. 280 River 
Street. This prominent insurance 
agency was founded by the firm of 
Van Every, Macdonald, & Carroll, 
(W. H. Van Every, John A. Macdon- 
ald, and John T. Carroll,) on the day 
of iheir entering into partnership, 
January 12, 1867. at No. 39 Congress 
Street, whence they moved shortly 
afterward to No. 265 River Street. 
Their successors have been John A. 
Macdonald, February i, 1878, at No. 
280 River Street ; Macdonalds & Van 
Alstyne, (John A. Macdonald, Wil- 
liam J. Macdonald, and Richard H 
Van Alstyne,) June i, 1880, at No. 
280 River Street ; and the members 
of the present firm, John A. Macdon- 
ald and Richard H. Van Alstyne, 
December r, 1883. As agents they 
represent the following fire insurance 
companies : Home of New York, 
Westchester Fire of New York, Fire 
Association of Philadelphia, Connect- 
icut Fire of Hartford, Commercial 
Union of London, Phoenix of Lon- 
don, American of Newark, Guardian 
of London, Scottish Union and Na- 
tional Insurance Company of Edin- 
burgh, Orient of Hartford, St. Paul Fire 
and Marine of St. Paul, and the Fire 
Insurance Association of London. 
They also represent the Fidelity and 
Casualty Company of New York, in- 
suring plate-glass, steam boilers, and 
properly against accidents. In ma- 
rine insurance they are agents of the 
St. Paul Fiie and Marine of St. Paul. 
The firm's oflice is centrally located 
^ and attmctively furnished. 

Alden & Nichols, bankers, bro- 
kers, insurance and real estate agents, 
No. I Mutual Bank Building, State 



24 



Street, near First. Established in 1870. 
Alonzo Alden and George F. Nichols 
formed the firm on March i, 188.4. 

Stillman & Son, general insur- 
ance agents, and real estate and loan 
brokers, Troy Savings Bank Building. 
Established in 1870. Wait J. Still- 
man and his son, Byron, formed the 
firm in 1872. 

Hudson & Smith, general insur- 
ance agents, room 3, Keenan Build- 
ing. Established 1870. (See Kek- 
nan Building.) 

Insurance Agencies, Life.— 

Peck & Hillman, general agents 
of the Connecticut Mutual Life In- 
surance Company of Hartford, Conn., 
Nos. 3 and 4 Mutual Bank Building, 
State Street, between First and Second 
streets. Eleazer A. Peck and Joseph 
Hillman, members of the oldest 
existing firm in the city, became 
associated, March 10, 1848,. as real 
estate, stock, ' and insurance bro- 
kers, at No. 173 River Street, 
west side, between Congress and 
State streets. On May i, 1854, they 
moved to the Mutual Bank Building, 
on the northeast corner of First and 
State streets, where' the firm has for 
more than three decades of years con- 
ducted its large business. In 1862, 
when the Connecticut Mutual Life 
Insurance Company established state 
agencies, this long-known firm was 
given the general agency of the state 
of New York, excepting the city of 
New York. When the firm became 
agents of the Connecticut Mutual 
Life Insurance Company its capital 
was $50,000, which now is $55,000,- 
000. 

D. L. Boardman & Son. New 
York State general agents of the Mu- 
tual Life Insurance Company of New 
York, Troy Savings Bank Building. 
Established in 1865. Derrick L. 



178 



Boardman, and his son, Henry F., 
became associated in business under 
the present firm-name on November 
28, 1883. 

Alonzo Alden, general agent of 
the New York Life Insurance Com- 
pany, No. I, Mutual Bank Building, 
State Street, between First and Sec- 
ond streets. He became agent of the 
company in 1874. 

William V. Baker, general agent 
of the Northwestern Life Insurance 
Company, room 13, Keenan Building. 
(See Keenan Building.) He be- 
came agent of the company for East- 
em New York and Western Massa- 
chusetts on January i, 1880. 

lonie Club, organized August 
27. 1853, and incorporated August 6, 
1868, has its rooms on the second 
floor of the building. No. i First 
Street, south of the Troy House. 
First officers : S. Nelson Derrick, 
president ; Lewis A. Rousseau, vice- 
president; Henry B. Dauchy, secre- 
tary and treasurer. Present officers : 
James F. Cowee, president ; W. H. 
Mann, vice-president ; P. F. Van- 
derheyden, secretary and treasurer. 

Iron and Steel, Importers and 
Dealers. 

Howe & Co. (See Hardware.) 

J. M. Warren & Co. (See Hard- 
ware.) 

Hannibal Green's Son & Co., im- 
porters and dealers in iron and steel, 
and manufacturers of carriage springs 
southeast corner of Broadway and 
Fourth Street. The founders of this 
well-known house were Henry Nazro, 
Augustus A. Thurber, and Hannibal 
Green, who, in 1832, formed the firm 
of Nazro, Thurber, & Green, hard- 
ware merchants, beginning business at 
No. 233 River Street. The successors 



of the firm were Nazro & Green, in 
1834; Green & Cramer, (George H. 
Cramer), in 1838; Hannibal Green, 
in 1852 ; Hannibal Green & Son, 
(Moses C), in 1S66 ; Hannibal Green, 
in 1872; and in April, 1875, the pres- 
ent firm, Edward M. Green and 
William M, Sanford. The Green 
Building was erected in 1855. 

Iron Manufacturers.— 

Burden Iron Company. (See 
Burden Iron Co.) 

Troy Steel and Iron Company. 
(See Troy Steel and Iron Co.) 

Iron Work, Architectural — 

M. Mahony, manufacturer of 
architectural iron-work, northwest cor- 
ner of Liberty and Fifth streets In 
September, 1870, Michael Mahony 
and Calvin W. Link formed the co- 
partnership of Link & Mahony, 
making machinery-castings and build- 
ing work at their foundry, on the 
south side of the Hollow Road, (now 
Spring Avenue), east of the Poesten 
Kill bridge. Having purchased the 
Cleary brewery properly, on the north- 
west corner of Liberty and Fifth 
streets, the firm erected there and on 
the site of the row of wooden buildings 
immediately north of the property, 
the present brick foundry and finish- 
ing shop In April, 1878, the firm 
began manufacturing in the new 
buildings. On October 18, that year, 
the partnership of Link & Mahony 
was dissolved ; M. Mahony continu- 
ing in the business. In 18S1-82, he 
enlarged the establishment by ihe 
erection of additional buildings. 

The foundry and its additions have 
every convenience for the manufacture 
of the special things for which they 
were designed. The employes of the 
establishment are skilled and experi- 
enced workmen. The business in- 



179 



eludes the manufacture of architectu- 
ral ii"on-\vork for buildings, iron-fronts 
for stores, widow lintels, sills, chim- 
ney caps, illuminating tile for side- 
walks and areas, floor-lights, stable 
fixtures, patent mangers, cess-pools 
and hitching posts. Another class of 
work embraces hot-air furnaces, steam- 
generators for house-heating, cooking 
feed, restaurant use, and other pur- 
poses. The manufacture of laundry 



Island Park Association, or- 
ganized and incorporated in the spring 
of 1884, leased the excellent race- 
course on the island immediately 
north of Pleasure Island, between 
Troy and Albany. The track, a mile 
in circuit, is one of the fastest and 
safest in the United States. It was 
constructed about the year 1866, and 
on it the American Girl made a rec- 
ord of 2:i6^. The capital stock of 




M. MAHONY S ARCHITECTURAL IRON-WORKS. 



stoves and Troy polishing irons is also 
an important part of the business. In 
machinery castings, pulleys, hangers, 
and other special iron-work the estab- 
lishment takes large orders. The 
architectural iron-works of M. Ma- 
hony are opposite the western decliv- 
ity of Ida Hill, and west of the line 
of the Troy and Greenbush Railroad, 
and on the northwest corner of Fifth 
and Liberty streets. 



the association is $10,000, divided 
into 100 shares of $100 each. The 
affairs of the association are managed 
by a board of fifteen directors. A 
member of the National Trotting As- 
sociation, and connected with the 
Grand Circuit, the Island Park Asso- 
ciation yearly offers from $30,000 to 
$40,000 in purses and secures most of 
the noted horses to compete in its 
summer and fall races. Its officers 



180 



are Erastus Corning, president ; stituted April 14, 1872, meets in the 

George P. Ide, vice-president ; S. W. Third Street synagogue, on the second 

Giles, secretary ; and Frank Gilbert, and fourth Sunday afternoons of each 

treasurer. month. 

Troy City Lodge of the Free 
Sons of Israel, meets in the synagogue, 
on Third Street, on the second and 
fourth Sunday afternoons of each 
month. 



Jail, Rensselaer County, is 

near the northeast corner of Ferry 
and Fifth streets. The first was 
erected in 1795, on the southwest cor- 
ner of the alley, in the rear of the first 
court-house. (See Court-house.) It 
was a brick building, two stories high. 
In 1826, the erection of the present 
jail was undertaken ; a brick building 
three stories high, with basement. On 
the first floor is the sheriff's office, the 
the waiting room and other apart- 
ments. On the second are two square 
rooms and six cells for the confinement 
of criminals, and on the third is the 
same number. In 1885, a three-story, 
brick building, with basement, ad- 
joining the front one on its north side, 
was erected. On the second and 
third floors of the new building are 
eighteen cells, nine on each floor. In 
the two buildings about one hundred 
and twenty prisoners can be lodged. 
About half that number are confined 
in them. The bell once hanging in 
the belfry of the first court-house was 
placed in the cupola of the jail in 
1832. It was there rung for fire- 
alarms until the introduction in the 
city of the telegraph fire-alarm sys- 
tem. 

Jewelers. — (See Watch-makers 
AND Jewelers.) 

Jewish Societies. — 

Jeremiah Lodge, No, 85, Inde- 
pendent Order of Bnai Berith, organ 
ized October 26, 1866, meets in the 
synagogue, on Third Street, on the 
first and third Sunday afternoons of 
each month. 

Joshua Lodge, No. 78, Indepen- 
dent Order of Kesher Shel Barzel, in- 



KiNG David Lodge, No. 28, In- 
dependent Order of the Sons of Ben- 
jamin, meets in Pythian Castle, on 
the first and third Sunday afternoons 
of each month, 

Alexander Lodge, No. 63, 
Berith Abraham, meets in Pythian 
Castle, on State Street, on the first 
and third Sunday afternoons of each 
month. 

Jewish Synagogues.— 

Berith Sholom, on the west side 
of Third Street, between Division 
and Liberty streets. A number of 
Jews worshiping in a room in the 
Wotkyns' Building, on the northwest 
corner of Congress and First streets, 
in the spring of 1864 fitted and fur- 
nished a room on the third floor of the 
Vail Building, on the northeast cor- 
ner of Congress and River streets, 
in which to hold religious services. 
The congregation took the name 
of Bikur Cholom, and was served 
by Louis Neusted as chazan, or 
reader. On March 26, 1866, the 
members met in their rooms and 
having selected Emanuel Gratz, 
chairman, elected Louis Gross, Selig 
Levy, Nathan Feibel, Isaac Heilbrun, 
Aaron Israel, and Jacob Berg, " trus- 
tees of the church and society of 
Berith Sholom." In the spring of 
1870, the congregation began tlie 
erection of the brick synagogue on 
Third Street. The corner-stone was 
laid on June 12, and on September 
22, that year, the synagogue was dedi- 
cated. 



181 



Rabbis. — Bernard Eberson, 1870- 
77 ; A. N. Coleman, April i. 1879, ^o 
present time. 

Readers. — H. G. Solomon. 1864 ; 
Louis Neusted, 1S64-65 ; Moses 
Blume, 1870-78. 

Beth Israel Bickur Cholom, 
on the third floor of the building Nos. 
8 and 10 State Street, between River 
and First streets. On August 7, 
1870, some of the members of the 
congregation worshiping in Vail's 
Building, met at the residence of 
Jacob Cohen, No. 133 River Street, 
and having selected Michael Brack 
as chairman of the meeting, elected 
Solomon Levy, Alexander Manne, 
Sigismund Seligson, Henry Mark- 
stone, and Julius Lawrence, "trus- 
tees of the synagogue and society 'of 
Beth- Israel Bickur Cholom." In 
1874, the congregation began holding 
its meetings in the building on State 
Street. 

Readers. — Bernstein, A. Chellock, 
Hermand Lovenstein, 1873; Adolph 
Pollak, 1874-76; Ellas Phillips, 1S80- 
81; J. Levy, 1882; Elias Phillips at 
present time. 

Shaare Tephilla, (Gates of 
Prayer,) on the third floor of the 
building on the northeast corner of 
River and Congress streets. Polish 
and Russian people compose the con- 
gregation organized in 1873. The 
first place in which it worshiped was 
in a building on the east side of 
Fourth Street, between Liberty and 
Washington streets. Present reader: 
the Rev. Isaac Berkowitz. 



Keenan Building. — The south 
part of the site of this large three- 
story, brick structure, on the north- 
west corner of Broadway and Third 
Street, is lot 199, which Jacob Van 
der Heyden conveyed, July 22, 1792, 



to Henry Coonradt, who consented to 
pay for it "the yearly rent of three 
pounds current money of the state of 
New York." The property is de- 
scribed in the deed as lying and being 
in the township laid "out by the name 
of Vanderheyden but now [in 1792] 
called Troy." The lessee also con- 
sented to pay " all taxes, charges and 
assessments, ordinary and extraor- 
dinary," which might be imposed on 
the lot. On September 9, 1801, Henry 
Coonradt conveyed the lot to Edward 
Tylee for $250, subject to the same 
covenants, conditions, and provisions 
set forth in the original instrument. 
Stephen Warren purchased the im- 
proved property from Edward Tylee, 
on January 17, 1810, for $2,250, also 
subject to the rents, reservations, and 
covenants required by Jacob D. Van 
der Heyden. James Keenan, on Feb- 
ruary, 6, 1882, purchased from Joseph 
M. Warren, the executor of S'.ephen 
Warren, deceased, lot 199 and the 
south half of lot 200, with the build- 
ings on them, for $40,000. On their 
demolition in 1882, James Keenan 
erected the present attractive build- 
ing, fronting 134 feet on Broadway, 
and 75 feet on Third Street, 

The spacious store, Nos. 5 and 6, 
on the first floor of the building, ac- 
cessible by doors on Broadway and 
Third Street, was occupied in 1883 by 

Thomas H. Magill, selling 
millinery and fancy goods, such 
as silks, velvets, laces, rib- 
bons, ruches, plumes, wings, and 
other hat and bonnet trimmings, 
together with women's skirts, corsets, 
parasols, fans, handkerchiefs, hosiery, 
and jewelry, besides yarns, zephyrs, 
embroidery silks, work-baskets, and a 
great variety of other fancy goods. 
Thomas H. Magill first engaged in 
the business in partnership with James 
G. Fleming, in 1876, under the firm- 
name of Magill & Fleming, at the 
southeast corner of Broadway and 



Second Street. In i88l, the partner- 
ship was dissolved. He then re- 
moved to Nos. 207 and 211 Broad- 
way, and in 1880 to his present place 
of business. 

Edgar L. Everett's art store is at 
the west end of the building, imme- 
diately east of the Mansion House, on 
Broadway. (See Art Store.) 

Samuel B. Mount, dealer in fine 
and fashionable furs, occupies the at- 



valises, bags, and other leather goods. 
Samuel B. Mount has been in the fur 
business in Troy since 1863. In 1883, 
he removed to the Keenan Building 
from his former store, No, 342 River 
Street. 

Theodore A. Byram, merchant 
tailor, at No. 4 Xeenan Building, 
seasonably replenishes his varied stock 
of cloths and other stuffs worn by men 
and boys from the best quality and 




keenan building. 



tractively-furnished store. No. 2 
Keenan Building. His valuable stock 
embraces diff'erent kinds of foreign 
and domestic furs, seal, sable, ermine, 
marten, beaver, otter, mink, chin- 
chilla, squirrel, and other animal 
skins. He largely manufactures fur 
garments, sacques, dolmans, mantles, 
capes, circulars, and also muff's, caps, 
gloves, and carriage and sleigh robes. 
Besides these, he also sells trunks. 



most desirable goods in the market. 
He employs an experienced and ar- 
tistic cutter and on order makes, at 
short notice, coats, pantaloons, and 
vests in all the prevailing styles of 
cut and fabric. He began business 
with liis father in 1868 under the firm- 
name of Joseph H. Byram & Son, 
merchant tailors. No. 236 River 
Street. In June, 1879, ^^ conducted 
the business in his own name. 



183 



Hudson & Smith, general insur- 
ance agents, occupy room 3, on 
the second floor, at the southeast cor- 
ner of the building. They represent 
the following favorably known fire in- 
surance companies : the New Hamp- 
shiie, the Citizens' of Pittsburgh, 
the Farragut of New York, the Mer- 
chants of New York, the Sterl- 
ing of New York, the American 
Exchange of New York, the Lafay- 
ette of Brooklyn, the Jefferson of New 
York, besides the Accident Insurance 
Company of North America, Guaran- 
tee Insurance Company of North 
America, .and the Phoenix Mutual 
Life of Hartford. William H. Hud- 
son engaged in the insurance business 
in 1870. In 1880, he became a mem- 
ber ot the firm of Hudson, Bolton, & 
Co., insurance agents at No. 273 
River Street, which was succeeded by 
that of Hudson, Crary, <x Co., in 
1S82, at 259 River Street. In 1884, 
he succeeded to the business, and in 
1885 became associated with George 
D. Smith under the firm-name of 
Hudson & Smith. 

Zeph F. Magill, photographer, 
has on the third floor his reception, 
camera, finishing, and framing 
rooms. He engaged in the business in 
1871, in the building, 338 RiverStreet, 
whence he removed in 1883 to his 
present large and suitably furnished 
apartments. His long experience en- 
ables him to produce excellent photo- 
graphs of all sizes. 

George Harrison occupies room 
6, on the second floor of the building, 
and sells bonds and mortgages on im- 
proved farms in the state of Kansas 
for investment. 

William V. Baker, agent of the 
Northwestern Life Insurance Com- 
pany, occupies room 13. 



Knitting Machine Manufac- 
turers. — 

Tompkins Brothers, knit-goods 
machinery, foot of Cypresss Street, 
south of Congress Street, near Ida 
Falls. The firm has for many years 
been manufacturing a number of in- 
geniously constructed machines exten- 
sively used in the United States, 
Canada, and South America in mak- 
ing such knit goods as women and 
men's shirts and drawers. The 
Tompkin's upright rotary knitting 
machine, invented and patented by 
Clark Tompkins, deceased, father of 
the members of the firm, is not sur- 
passed by an other contrivance of its 
kind in its simplicity of construction 
and its adaptation to perfect the work 
for which it is so skilfully designed. 
Noiseless, direct in operation, it knits, 
revolves, and winds the material with 
so little superintendence that it fully 
merits the high commendation given 
it by numerous knit-goods manufac- 
turers in all parts of the country. 
Another popular labor-saving machine, 
called the Tompkins' cone winder, 
made by the firm, was patented in 
1865 by George Bradford. It is used 
for rewinding yarn from bobbins taken 
from spinning jacks. It is a most de- 
sirable machine, especially valuable 
for the regularity of its delivery of 
yarn to a knitting machine, feeding 
the thread with uniform tension and 
making the knitting loops of equal 
length and elasticity in which other 
machines do not surpass it. The firm 
constructs many other patented ma- 
chines used in knitting mills. The 
business of manufacturing mill gear- 
ing, looms for cotton and carpet mills, 
and general machinery was begun 
about the year 1846 by Clark Tomp- 
kins, in the brick building formerly 
standing on the site of the present one 
occupied by the Tompkins Brothers. 
The enterprising machinist not long 
afterward originated in Troy the 



184 



business of making wooden letters for 
signs. By the burning of the building, 
on the morning of December ig, 
1849, Mr. Tompkins sustained a 
heavy loss in machinery. After the 
erection, in 1850, of the present build- 
ing. 175 feet long and 45 wide, the 
Empire Machine Company was or- 
ganized, of which Mr. Tompkins was 
superintendent until 1861, when he 
became proprietor of the works. On 
April I, 1877, Albert and Ira Tomp- 
kins succeeded their father in the 
business under the firm-name of the 
Tompkins Brothers. The Poesten Kill 
supplies the establishment with a body 
of water of seventy-five horse-power, 
by a fall of twenty-five feet. 



Knitting Mills.— 

Brookside Hosiery Mills. Wil- 
liam C. Tompkins manufacturer of all 
grades of men's knit shirts and draw- 
ers, foot of Cypress Street, near Ida 
Falls. The mills were first operated 
by the Brookside Hosiery Comp.any, 
October i, 1872. William C. Tomp- 
kins succeeded to the business, 
January I, 1 880. 

Crown Knitting Mills. Bruns- 
wick Manufacturing Company makes 
women and children's fine wool, meri- 
no, and cotton underwear, Brunswick 
Road, near the intersection of the 
Brunswick Road and Congress Street. 
Formerly Farnam Mills. Company or- 
ganized July, 1S84. J. A. Best, presi- 
dent; W. P. Lefferts treasurer ; and A. 
G. Tanner, secretary. 

Rob Roy Hosiery Mills. Rob 
Roy Hosiery Company manufactures 
'men, women, and children's scarlet 
and white wool and merino knit 
shirts and drawers, at No. 191 First 
Street. The company was organized 
October 16, 18S2. Present officers: 
Charles A. Brown, president; Charles 
A. McLeod, vice president; Theodore 



F. Barnum, treasurer ; and Charles L. 
Alden, secretary. 

Sunlight Knitting Mill. Emil 
Seitz, agent, manufactures men and 
women's fine, white, wool, merino 
knit underwear. Green Street, north 
of Federal, between North Second 
and North Third streets. Estab- 
lished 1881. 

Wynantskill Knitting Mills. 
Wynantskill Knitting Company manu- 
factures knit shirts and drawers, south 
side of Washington Street, Albia. 
Incorporated, October 28, 18S4. James 
E. McLoughlin, president ; N. T. 
Kane, treasurer; and Gilbert Geer, jr., 
secretary. 

Labor, Knights of, — District 
LXVIII comprises the counties of 
Rensselaer, Columbia, Washington, 
and Saratoga, and a part of the state 
of Vermont. Rensselaer Assembly, 
21X2, organized in 1882, was the first 
Knights of Labor association formed 
in the city. About thirty assemblies 
or associations aie now within the lim- 
its of Troy, among which are the 
Rensselaer, Alpha, Mitre, Cigar- 
makers, Ferguson, Temple, Victor, 
Trojan, Metal Workers', Old Relia- 
ble, Eureka, Joan of Arc, Enterprise, 
Pleasant Valley, Hudson Valley, 
Frankin, Phoenix, Delta, Iron and 
Mechanics' Linesmen, Pioneers, Wen- 
dell Phillips, Star, Trowel, Amulet, 
and John Swinton. 

Stephens' Hall, formerly the State 
Armory, No. 134 River Street, 
between Congress and Ferry Streets, 
has been fitted and furnished for the 
meetings of the different organiza- 
tions. A circulating library has been 
established in Stephens' Hall for the 
use of the members. 

Land-slides.— In the early part 
of the summer of 1836, a great mass 
of clay separated from the steep west- 



I8r) 



ern declivity of Mount Ida, and, fol- 
lowed by a broad torrent of water, 
covered a considerable space of ground 
at the foot of the hill. 

On Sunday evening, January i, 
1837, a large part of the clayey side 
of Mount Ida, opposite Washington 
Street, slid away from the hill, which 
is about 200 feet high, and was car- 
ried by the momentum of the mass to 
the distance of 500 feet westwardly, 
covering with cLiy to the depth of from 
ten to forty feet many acres of lana on 
the level at the base of the eminence. 
Two stables, containing twenty-two 
horses, and three dwelling-houses, in 
which were seven persons, were 
crushed and buried beneath the 
weighty material. A burning brick 
kiln, destroyed by the moving earth, 
for a time brightly illuminated the 
snow-flaked sky. The scene, viewed 
by the hundreds of people who had 
hastened ihither with the supposition 
that a great conflagration was spread- 
ing its flames in that part of the city, 
was described as " awful in the high- 
est degree." It setmed as if "the 
horrors of an earthquake " were real- 
ized. Over the broken, snow- whitened 
mass of clay, a multitude of people 
clambered, some carrying lamps and 
torches, others hoes, picks, and shov- 
els, in the hope of rescuing alive those 
who had so noiselessly been buried 
beneath the ponderous covering. 
From the shattered dwelling of John 
Grace, his body and that of his wife 
were exhumed, and also the little son 
of the dead father and mother, " very 
little hurt, bare-fooled and bare- 
headed." Two boys, one four and 
the other eight years old, children of 
Mrs. Leavensworth, were shockingly 
crushed, while the mother and 
another of her children were e.xtri- 
cated greatly bruised from the debris 
of their wrecked home. Of the 
twenty-two horses, only six escaped 
death. The dislodged clay was used 



to heighten the level of the low part 
of the city west of Mount Ida. 

On Saturday evening, November 
14, and on the following Monday, in 
1841, two land-slides again carried 
large quantities of clay to the foot of 
Mount Ida. The first one demol- 
ished a small dwelling, from which 
the inmates escaped unhurt. 

On Friday afternoon, February 17, 
1843, another land-slide, similar to 
the one of 1S37, destroyed ten build- 
ings, and killed fifteen persons. 

On the evening of March 17, 1859, 
a part of the hill slid down upon St. 
Peter's College, then building at the 
head of Washington Street, and 
destroyed the unfinished structure, 
upon which $12,000 had been ex- 
pended. The corner-stone had been 
laid in 1S58. 

Lansingburgh, a town in Rens- 
selaer County, was erected March 20, 
1807. 

Population: iSlO, 1,600; 1815, I,8oo; 
1820, 2,035; 1825, 2,423; 1S30, 2,663; 
1835, 3,268; 1840. 3,330; 1845,3,982; 
1850, 5.752; 1855, 5.700; i860, 5.577; 
1865, 6,072; 1870, 6,804; 1S75, 6,937; 
1880, 7,764. 

Lansingburgh, the village of, 

is immediately north of the city of 
Troy, and extends along the east bank 
of the Hudson, about two and three- 
quarter miles, with a width of one 
mile eastward of the river. Its site 
was called Tascamcatick by the Indi- 
ans, and the woodland south of it, 
Passquassick. Robert Saunders, a 
resident of Albany, acquired the pro- 
prietorship of the first-named tract of 
land on September I, 1670, to whom 
the patent of it was then conveyed by 
Francis Lovelace, the English gov- 
ernor of the province of New York 
under James II. The woodland 
south of it, and the island called 



186 



Whale-Island, Robert Saunders also 
obtained by a patent granted him by 
Sir Edmund Andros, March 22, 1679. 
On September 19, 1681, he sold apart 
of the woodland, Passquassick, which 
lay south of the Piscawen Kill, 
to Pieter Van Woggleum. (See pages 
2 and 3.) On May 26, 1683, the land, 
Tascamcatick, Robert Saunders con- 
veyed to Joannes Wendell, who after- 
ward purchased a piece of woodland 
extending from the former tract of 
land northward to a certain kill, called 
by the Indians Paensick. This prop- 
erty was confirmed to him in a patent 
dated July 22, 1686, granted by 
Thomas Dongan, the English gov- 
ernor of the province of New York. 
In the instrument the tract is named 
Stony (Steene) Arabia. In the third 
year of the reign of George III, and 
on June 2i, 1763, Robert Wendell, 
heir of Joannes Wendell, sold a part 
of the tract to Abraham Jacob Lan- 
sing, for ;^300. The latter, in the 
spring of 1771, had a part of Stony 
Arabia surveyed, and a map made of 
it. This description appears on the 
map filed in the Albany County 
clerk's office : "This map describeth 
a tract of land lying on the east side 
of Hudson's river, about eight miles 
above the city of Albany, and is layed 
out in a regular square for the erect- 
ing a city by the name of Lansing- 
burgh ; the lots are one hundred and 
twenty five feet long and fifty wide. 
The streets are seventy feet wide, and 
the alleys twenty feet wide ; the 
oblong square (the Green or Park) in 
the center is reserved for public us;es. 
Laid down by a scale of ninety feet to 
an inch. June 7, 1771. Joseph 
Blanchard, surveyor." The number 
of lots delineated upon tlie map is 
2S8. The plat included the ground 
between South, (Eleventh), North, 
(Fourteenth), East, (Seventh Avenue), 
streets and the Hudson River. King 
and Queen streets were changed April 



15, 1833, to State and Congress streets. 
Abraham Jacob Lansing's purpose in 
dividing his farm into building lots was 
to make it the site of a city. When emi- 
grants from the New Engand state ? be- 
gan settling there, it was called by 
the Dutch, Nieuw Stadt, New City, 
in contradistinction to the Onde Stadt, 
the Old City, as Albany was then 
denominated. 

In 1788, Elkanah Watson visited 
"New City" and thus wrote respect- 
ing it: "This place is thronged by 
mercantile emigrants, principally 
from New England, who have enjoyed 
a very extensive and lucrative trade, 
supplying Vermont and the region of 
both banks of the Hudson, as far as 
Lake George, with merchandise, and 
receiving in payment wheat, pot and 
pearl ashes and lumber." 

The sile cf Lansingburgh at the 
head of the navigation of the Hudson 
was at first thought to be accessible to 
vessels of 100 tons burden. Later the 
size of the vessels became a subject of 
considerable interest to those en- 
gaged in the shipment of grain. The 
following paragraphs appeared in the 
American Spy of March 8, 1793, pub- 
lished in Lansingburgh : 

"The sloop Arabia, of 90 tons bur- 
den, arrived at this place yesterday, 
and is now loading for New York. 

"It is of great importance to the 
business of the place that vessels of 
80 or go tons can generally load at our 
docks through the spring season, at 
which time most of the produce of the 
country is shipped off; and it is con- 
templated that the same advantage 
will continue through the whole sea- 
son after the present year, as dams are 
to be erected ne.xt summer to give a 
sufficient depth of water up to this 
town to navigate vessels of 40 and 50 
tons burden." 

Later the advantages of the village 
of Troy as a better point from which 



187 



to ship grain during tlie season of 
navigation predominated 

The village was incorporated by 
act of legislature passed April 5, 
179c. As recited in the act, "whereas, 
in that part of the town of Rensselaers- 
wyck, in the county of Albany, * * 
* a considerable number of houses 
are already erected and occupied by 
merchants, mechanics, and others, to 
the advancement of commerce and 
manufactures in the state; and in 
order to enable them to regulate their 
internal police and secure the bene- 
fits of certain commonable lands lying 
within the same, have prayed that 
they might be enabled to appoint 
trustees," therefore, it was enacted that 
John Van Rensselaer, Christopher 
Tillman, Elijah Janes, Aaron Ward, 
Stephen Gorham, Ezra Hickok and 
Levinus Lansing should "be the first 
trustees for the freeholders and in- 
habitants of that part of the town of 
Rensselaerswyck, commonly called 
Lansingburgh." 

In April, 1791, Lansingburgh be- 
came a post-village by the appoint- 
ment of Stephen Gorham as deputy 
postmaster of the office established 
there. 

The first church erected in the 
village was that of the Reformed 
Protestant Dutch congregation; a 
wooden building constructed about 
the year 1782. on the northwest cor- 
ner of John and Richard streets. On 
August g, 1792, a number of Presby- 
terians elected Levinus Lansing, John 
Lovett, John D. Dickinson, James 
Dole, Jonas Morgan, and Shubael 
Gorham trustees, known by law "by 
the name of the trustees of the First 
Presbyterian Church and Congregation 
in Lansingburgh." The corner-stone 
of the brick meeting-house, built at the 
north end of the Green, near Hoosick 
Street, was laid on Thursday after- 
noon, July 5, 1793, by the Rev. Jonas 
Coe, pastor of the united congrega- 



tions of Lansingburgh and Troy. The 
building was dedicated June 22, 1794. 
Hiram Lodge, No. 35, was the first Ma- 
sonic organization in the village. The 
warrant for its institution was granted 
August 16, 1787. Phoenix Lodge, F. 
A. M., No. 361, was granted a war- 
rant June 23, 1S23, which surrendered 
its charter January 6, 1836. The 
Baptist society formed June 11, 1803, 
erected a wooden meeting-house at 
the corner of North and John streets. 
The organization of Trinity Church, 
Episcopal, was effected January 5, 
1804. About the year 1806, a weather- 
boarded church was erected by 
the congregation on the northwest cor- 
ner of John and Market streets. The 
Methodists erected a wooden meeting- 
house, in 1 8 10, on the bank of the 
river, at the foot of Elizabeth Street. 
The Bank of Lansingburgh was incor- 
porated March 19, 1813, and began 
business in a building known as No. 
531 State (King) Street. The bank 
discontinued business, March 19, 1877. 
The Lansingburgh Academy was char- 
tered February S, 1796. The first 
academy was erected midway between 
Hoosick and Lansing streets, and 
fronted on the Green. 

In 1824, the whole number of 
houses and stores in the village, in- 
cludmg the public buildings, was 330. 
Its population was 1,650. St. John's 
Roman Catholic Church was organ- 
ized about the year 1841. The first 
church, a small wooden building, on 
the southwest corner of John and 
North streets, was dedicated in 1844. 
In 1836, the village contained si.\ 
churches; two Presl'yterian, one Bap- 
tist, one Methodist, one Episcopal, and 
one Universalist, an academy, six select 
and one private schools, several pub- 
lic libraries, a printing office, that of 
the Lansingburgh Gazette, four hotels, 
six wholesale and forty retail stores, 
two oil-cloth manufactories, one 
brush and bellows factory, one tin 



188 



factory, one gun and rifle factory, two 
breweries, three malsteries, and two 
grist mills. 

On Sunday, July g, 1843, between 
thirty and forty buildings, on the two 
blocks, between State and Congress, 
and Elizabeth and Grove streets, were 
destroyed by fire. On Sunday night, 
July 23, that year, another fire burned 
twelve buildings on State Street, be- 
tween Richard and Elizabeth streets. 
The Rensselaer County Bank began 
business in the village, January i, 
1853. On July 13, 1872 it discon- 
tinued business. 

The only banking institution in the 
village is the Bank of D. Powers & 
Sons' on the northwest corner of 
Second avenue and Seventeenth Street. 
The bank was established March 
20, 1877. 

The Union Bridge connects the vil- 
lage with Waterford, and at the foot 
Twellth Street, another, built in 
1880, with Van Schaick's Island. 
There are eight churches in the place : 
First Baptist, on the east side of 
Fourth Avenue, (John Street), between 
Sixteenth and Seventeenth streets. 
The society was first formed June 11, 
1803, and reorganized, July 28, 1858. 
The building formerly belonged to the 
Second Presbyterian congregation. 
Trinity Church, Episcopal, built in 
1870, is on the northwest corner of 
Fourth Avenue and Fifteenth Street. 
The Danish Lutheran Church is on the 
corner of Fourth Avenue and Sixth 
Street. The Methodist Episcopal 
was erected in 1849, on the northeast 
corner of Congress and Elizabeth 
streets. The Free Methodist, organ- 
ized October 15, 1867, built a house of 
worship, on Lincoln Avenue, between 
Elizabeth and Market streets. The 
First Presbyterian Church was erected 
in 1845, on the east side of Congress 
Street, between Elizabeth and Market 
streets. Olivet Chapel, Second Pres- 
byterian, was erected in 1877, on the 



northwest corner of Congress and 
Clinton streets. St. Augustine, Ro- 
man Catholic, was erected in 1865, on 
the east side of John Street, between 
Market and Elizabeth streets. 

The Lansingburgh Courier, first is- 
sued December 24, 1875, is the only 
newspaper published in the village. 

In 1886, the trustees of the village 
changed the names of the streets to 
the following : 

River Street, First Avenue; State 
Street, Second Avenue ; Congress 
Street, Third Avenue ; John Street, 
Fourth Avenue ; Whipple Avenue, 
Fifth Avenue ; Ann Street, or Lincoln 
Avenue, Sixth Avenue; East Street, 
Seventh Avenue ; Hill Street, Eighth 
Avenue . 

Cemetery Avenue, First Street ; 
Van Schaick, Second Street; Thomas, 
Third Street ; Gould, Fourth Street ; 
Vail. Fifth Street ; George, Sixth 
Street; Mill, Seventh Street; Middle, 
Eighth Street ; Diamond, Ninth 
Street ; Catharine, Tenth Street ; 
South, Eleventh Street ; Lansing, 
Twelfth Street; Hoosick, Thirteenth 
Street; North, Fourteentii Street ; 
Market, Fifteenth Street; Elizabeth, 
Sixteenth Street ; Richard, Seven- 
teenth Street; Grove, Eighteenth 
Street ; Jay, Nineteenth Street ; Canal, 
Twentieth Street ; Clinton, Twenty- 
first Street ; Mohawk, Twenty-second 
street ; Washington, Twenty-third 
Street, Mercer, Twenty-fourth Street; 
Adams, Twenty-fifth Street ; Water- 
ford, Twenty-sixth Street. 

The thoroughfares running north 
and south are called avenues, and 
those running east and west, streets. 

Market was first called Bancker 
Street, and River Street, Water 
Street. Ann Street was recently 
called Lincoln Avenue. Not many 
years ago Pitt Street was named 
Whipple Avenue. 

The most important manufactories 
in the village are those of floor oil- 



189 



cloth, brushes, valves, collars and 
cuffs, crackers and biscuits, carriages, 
weighing scales, knit goods, malt, and 
beer. The hrst oil-cloth was made 
in Lansingburgh by William Powers, 
who, on June 17, 1817, advertised him- 
self as a manufacturer of it. His 
wife and sons, Albert E. and Na- 
thaniel B. Powers, under the firm- 
name of Deborah Powers & Sons, have 
for many years continued the business 
in the large buildings on the west 
and east sides of Second Avenue, 
(State Street), in the south part of the 
village. William McMurray began 
the business of making brushes in 
October, iSiS, in the north part of 
Lansingburgh, in a building on King 
Street, opposite the store of S. J. 
Penniman. The manufacture of 
crackers was undertaken in 1806, by 
the father of Joseph Fox, deceased. 
Edward Tracy, malster, still con- 
tinues the business which for many 
years has been an extensive one. 

The Ludlow Valve Manufacturing 
Company's works are on the east side 
of Second Avenue, near the northern 
limits of the city of Troy. 

Jessen, McCoUum, & Co., (John F. 
Jessen, William McCollum and John 
H. Franklin, continue the manu- 
facture of crackers and biscuits in the 
Fox Building, on the northeast corner 
of Second Avenue and Sixteenth 
Street. Bolton & Skillman, (C. Bol- 
ton and George E. Skillman), succes- 
sors to R. M. Defreest, are also largely 
engaged in manufacturing crackers on 
the northwest corner of First Avenue 
and Seventeenth Street. The firm 
was formed May i, 18S6. 

Thompson & Grant, (M. Thompson 
and L. D. Grant), at No. 553 and at 
No. 585 Fifth Avenue, besides manu- 
facturing a general line of toilet 
brushes and hand mirrors have ob- 
tained no little reputation by making 
the xoid (white) brushes and hand- 
mirrors. 



E. Waters & Sons, (George A. and 
Clarence W.), the well-known makers 
of paper boats, paper domes, and pul- 
leys, have their manufactory on First 
Avenue, between Thirteenth and 
Fourteenth Streets. 

The Troy Carriage Works, James 
K. P. Pine proprietor, and John S. 
Wilbur, superintendent, are on the 
southeast corner of Second Avenue 
and Twenty-first Street. A full line 
of first-class vehicles, from the light- 
est wagon to the finest landau, is made 
at the works. 

The ^-Etna Hosiery Mills, William 
A. Harder, proprietor, on the east 
side of Second Avenue, near the north- 
ern limits of Troy, give employment 
to a large number of operatives. 

The collar and cuff manufactory, 
erected by James K. P. Pine in 1884, 
on the southeast corner of Second 
Avenue (State Street) and Twenty- 
first (Clinton) Street, has a frontage of 
250 feet and a depth of 53. The two 
brick buildings, in the rear of the large, 
five-story brick structure, are each 
three stories high; the one, 40 by 50 
feet, the other, 28 by 65 feet. The 
enterprising manufacturer of the well- 
known "Lion Brand" of men's linen 
collars and cuffs, began the business 
in the city of Troy, in 1862, then asso- 
ciated with H. W. Cole and Clinton 
M. Dyer, under the firm-name of 
Cole, Dyer, & Pine, manufacturing in 
the Gurley Building, on Fulton 
Street. 

In 1867, the firm of Dyer & Pine 
succeeded to the business, which in 
1868 was continued by that of Pine & 
Miller (H. B. Miller), at the same 
place. In 1S69, Thomas M. Dun- 
ham was admitted a member of the 
firm, which then took the name of 
Pine, Miller, « Dunham. In 1874, the 
firm moved to the building No. 269 
River Street, and in 1876 to Nos. 15 
and 17 Third Street. In 1874, the 
firm of Pine, Adams, (Charles H.), & 



191 



Dunham was formed, which in the fol- 
lowing year occupied the firm's new 
building, Nos. 60, 62 and 64 Sixth 
Street. In August, that year, Cliarles 
H. Adams died. In 1S79, James K. 
P. Pine entered into partnership with 
Myron C- Hamblin under the firm- 
name of Pine & Hamblin. On the 
death of the junior partner, in June, 
18S0, James K. P. Pine continued the 
business. In 1884, he built the pres- 
ent manufactory, which he occupied 
in Novemljer, that year. The excel- 
lence oftlie "Lion Brand" of men's 
collars and cuffs has obtained for them 
a wide-territorial reputation in the 
United States and Canada. The sales- 
rooms of the establishment are at No. 
675 Broadway, New York; at No. 12 
Summer Street, Boston; and at No. 
128 Fifth Avenue, Chicago. 

The Sans Souci Club, organized as 
a social club, October, 12 1867, took 
its name October 28, 1868, and be- 
came incorporated October 25, 1875. 
The club-house, on the northwest 
corner of First Avenue and Fifteenth 
Street, was occupied in March, 1876. 

Since 17S7, seventeen newspapers 
have been published in Lansingburgh. 
(See Newsi^m-ers.) 

The village government is admin- 
{.■-tered by a board of eight trustees, 
two from each ward. The apparatus 
of the fire department embraces two 
steam fire engines, two hose carts, and 
one hook and ladder truck. 

The population of Lansingburgh, 
estimated from 1771 to 1815, 
was in 1770, 50; 1780, 400: 
1790, 500; 1795, 900; 1800, 1,200; 
1805, 1,400; 1810, 1,600; 1815. 1.800; 
1820, 2,035; 1825, 2,423; 1830, 2;- 
663; 1835, 3,268; 1840, 3,330; 1845, 
3,982; 1850, 5,752; 1855, 5,700; i860, 
5,577; 1865, 6,072; 1870, 6,802; 1875, 
6,937; 1880, 7,760. 

Laundries. — The reputation 
which the city has obtained for the 



excellence of its laundries is not 
wholly due to the experience of the 
employes and the merits of the ma- 
chinery used. The peculiar composi- 
tion of the blueing and starching sub- 
stances originated by the competitive 
laundrymen and the detergent pro-- 
perties of the water of the place have ' 
largely preponderated in the develop- 
ment of this widely-known prestige. 
Two score years ago the business was 
begun in Troy by Independence 
Starks, who established a manufac- 
turers' laundry at No. 66 North 
Second Street. Although many of 
the operations of laundering are re- 
stricted to machinery not a few are ac- 
complished by the dextrous hands of 
skillful employes. An expert starcher 
can rub 100 dozen of collars in a day. 
The employes earn from $2.50 to ,$20 
a week. More than two thousand 
girls and women are engaged in the 
Troy laundries and annually earn not 
less than $1,000,000. 

The Wiles Laundering Com- 
pany, limited, No. 15 Sixth Street, 
possesses one of the largest and most 
patronized laundries of manufacturers' 
goods in the city. The machinery in 
the different departments of the es- 
tablishment is ingeniously designed 
to wash, to dry, to starch, to dampen, 
and to iron in a rapid and superior 
manner. The experienced manager 
of the laundry, Thomas S. Wiles, is 
the inventor of the notable ironing 
machines, patented in 1873 and 1876, 
which singly iron in a' day a thousand 
dozen of collars. The large number 
of female operatives employed is care- 
fully instructed in the manipulative 
processes by which the goods are made 
acceptable to the manufacturers pa- 
tronizing this well-known laundry. 
In the art of blueing and starching 
the company has attained an enviable 
distinction. The founder of the 
laundry, Thomas S. Wiles, en- 
gaged in the business in Troy 



193 



4 



in 1864, in a building on William 
Street, between Fulton and Grand 
Division streets. In 1867, he moved 
to a building on Bridge Avenue, 
where, having designated his estab- 
lishment the St. Nicholas Laundry, he 
continued the business until 1872, 
when he occupied a part of the build- 
ing, No. 17 Union Street. In the fol- 
lowing year, he and Alonzo S. Adams 
formed the firm of Thomas S. Wiles & 
Co. In 1877, he again individually 
undertook the management of the 
business. The Wiles Laundering 
Company was organized in March. 
1879, when Walter F. Hurcomb 
was elected its president; Jacob 
H. Ten Eyck, secretary; Nathan 
D. Wendell, treasurer; and Thomas S. 
Wiles, manager. On the death of N. 
D. Wendell in January, 1886, M. E. 
Wendell, previously superintendent of 
the laundry, was chosen treasurer of 
the company. In 1879, the company 
occupied ihe building, No. 15 Sixth 
Street, and continued the occupation 
of the building in the rear of it, on 
Union Street. 

Wales & Price, Champion Steam 
Laundry, southeast corner of River 
and Vanderheyden streets. The cus- 
tom business of this excellent laundry 
extends from the St. Lawrence River 
to the Rio Grande, Texas, and from 
the Atlantic westward to the Pacific 
Ocean. Packages, hampers, and 
boxes containing soiled collars, cuffs, 
and shirts are daily received at the 
establishment from different <listant 
places within this widely-spread terri- 
tory. The goods are quickly laundered 
and forwarded with dispatch to their 
destinations. The business was begun 
by Greenman & Witbeck, at No. 134 
Congress Street in 1867. who were 
succeeded by Calvin Whyland in 
1872; James D. Davis & Co., in 1874; 
Grant & Wales, January I, 1882; 
Wales, Bennit & Co., May 18, 1883; 
Wales, Price, & Co., November 10, 



1884; and Wales & Price, (Frederick 
K. Wales and Williard M. Price), 
November 10, 1SS5. 

Laureate Boat Club, was or- 
ganized June 19, 1866. The boat- 
house is at the foot of Laureate 
Avenue. 

Leather. — 

I. N. Haight, dealer in boot, shoe 
and harness leather, foreign and do- 
mestic; also boot and shoe uppers, 
fronts and footings, No. 114 Congress 
Street, south side, between Fourth 
and Fifth streets. Business estab- 
lished in 1840. 

Smith & Pollock, wholesale and 
retail dealers in leather and findings, 
No. 355 River Street. The business 
was begun by Ross & Smith, in 1843, 
at No. 179 River Street. Lampson 
Smith and Philander Pollock formed 
the firm in 1874. Thomas W. 
Patterson was admitted a partner 
February I, 1883. 

John Halligan, wholesale and 
retail dealer in leather and findings, 
and manufacturer of gaiter-uppers. 
No. 104 Congress Street. He began 
the business in 1S70. 

Libraries. — (See Rensselaer 
Polytechnic Institute; Railroad 
Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion; Troy Young Men's Associa- 
tion; Troy Young Men's Catho- 
lic Literary Association.) 

Literary Club, Ladies', or- 
ganized in 1879, with sixteen mem- 
bers, meets weekly, except in the 
summer months. 

Livery, Boarding and Sale 
Stables, Charles W. De Freest, No. 
88 Third Street, east side, between 
State and Congress streets; and also 



193 



No. 12 State Street. The long-sus- 
tained distinction of the Palace Stables 
for carefully-groomed, handsomely- 
harnessed, and stylish horses, clean, 
bright and fashionable vehicles, and 
skilled and polite drivers is a matter 
of no common fame in the city. The 
large number of horses, coaches, and 
employes of the establishment enable 
the proprietor to provide at short no- 
tice such of them as may be desired 
for weddings, funerals, and other oc- 
casions at reasonable rates. As 
boarding stables they are conducted 
with all the care and regularity de- 
manded by the most exacting owners of 
horses. The business to which Charles 
W. De Freest individually succeeded 
in 1879, was undertaken in 1863 by 
him and Martin Van Evren under the 
firm-name of Van Evren & De Freest, 
at No 36 Second Street. On the dis- 
solution of the firm in 1865, Charles 
W. De Freest conducted it until the 
partnership of the De Freest Brothers, 
(Charles W. and James T.), was 
formed in 1871, and the Palace Stables 
opened at No. 88 Third Street. In 
1881, Charles W. De Freest connected 
with the establishment the stables 
No. 12 State Street. Orders given at 
the office. No. 88 Third Street, either 
in person or by telephone, at any hour 
of the day and night, will have imme- 
diate attention. 

Lutheran Church. — 

Trinity German Evangelical 
Lutheran Church, east side of River 
Street, between Hutton and Hoosick 
streets. The Rev. P. Eirich of Albany 
having at different times preached to a 
number of German Lutherans in Troy 
they finally expressed a w illingness to 
become members of an organized 
church. The Rev. Theodore Maas 
on September 3, 1871, took charge 
of the society, which, on October 15 of 
that year, formally took the name of 

26 



the Trinity German Evangelical Lu- 
theran Church. The congregation 
first worshiped in an upper room 
in Green's Building, on the southeast 
corner of Broadway and Fourth Street. 
Afterward the site of the present 
church was purchased on which was a 
weather-boarded building, which was 
renovated for the use of the society. 
It was burned December 7, 1879. 
The corner-stone of the present brick 
edifice was laid August 22, 1880, and 
the church dedicated January 16, 1881. 
Members about 70. 

Pastors: Theodore Maas, Septem- 
ber 3, 1871 to May 15, 1873; F. Goes- 
sling, June 15, 1873 to October 15, 
1882; H. Beiderbecke, October 31, 
1882 to present time. 



Machinery Manufacturers.— 

W. H. TOLHURST & Son, machin- 
ists, northeast corner of Fulton and 
Sixth streets. The firm manufac- 
tures machinery of all descriptions, 
but mostly that which is used in mak- 
ing and finishing collars, cuffs, and 
shirts. The enterprise of the firm has 
been directed to the construction of a 
number of popular appliances by 
which the laundering of these goods is 
accomplished with great perfection 
and rapidity. Tolhurst's improved 
self-balancing hydro-extractor for re- 
moving water from washed goods is 
highly commended by laundrymen, 
knit, and woolen goods manufacturers 
in all parts of the United States for 
its easy action, durability, and ef- 
ficiency. The firm's improved plait- 
ing machine for plaiting shirt bosoms 
is the only machine used for the pur- 
pose by the manufacturers of shirts in 
Troy and in many other places. The 
wing disc fan or exhauster sold by 
Tolhurst & Son, used in numerous 
manufactories in the country, obtained 
a medal from the American Institute 
in 1882. Besides being agents for the 



194 



Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Com- 
pany's standard gears, the firm makes 
shafting, pulleys, and hangers, im- 
proved attachments for running sew- 
ing machines by steam power, ma- 
chinery patterns, mechanical drawings, 
and models. The business was be- 
gun by William H. Tolhurst in a 
building on the northwest corner of 
Mechanic and Fulton streets in 1856. 
In 1862, he moved to the building No. 



occupied by him in the spring of 1882, 
is a four-story, brick building, fronting, 
fifty-two feet on Sixth Street and fifty- 
four on Fulton Street, and extending 
eastward seventy-nine feet. A five- 
story, brick building was erected after- 
ward as an addition to it, extending 
from it to the alley; running from Ful- 
ton to Grand Division streets. On 
January i, 1884, William H. Tolhurst 
associated his son, Charles H., with 




W. H. TOLHURST & SON's MACHINE WORKS. 



311 River Street, whence he changed 
his place of business in 1865 to the 
rear part of the building No. 19 Sixth 
Street, west side, between Fulton and 
Grand Divisions streets. In 1870, he 
occupied a part of the Union Building, 
Nos. 7, 9, and 11, on the west side of 
Sixth Street. In 1881, he began the 
erection of his machine works on the 
northeast corner of Fulton and Sixth 
streets. The attractive establishment, 



him in the business; the firm taking 
the name of W. H. Tolhurst & Son. 

Malleable Iron.— (See Troy 
Malleable Iron Company.) 

Malt-Making.— One of the larg- 
est structures in the city of Troy is C. 
F. Conkey's brick malt-hou5e, on the 
northeast corner of River and Adams 



196 



streets. It is six stories high, with a 
frontage of one hundred and sixty- 
five feet and a depth of seventy-five 
feet On its floors, two hundred 
thousand bushels of malt can be ma- 
nipulated and stored. The drying 
kilns, designed and patented by An- 
thony Pfund of New York, are used 
in the making of malt in this estab- 
lishment with the most satisfactory re- 
suits, and are believed to be the best 
in the United States. The building 
is excellently ventilated. The process 
of converting barley into malt in- 
cludes steeping, couching, flooring, 
and kiln drying. In the kilns the 
grain is subjected to a temperature 
ranging from 90° Fahrenheit to 150°. 
The chemical changes which barley 
undergoes to become malt are tabu- 
lated in this form : 
Composition. Barley. Malt. 

Hordeine 55 12 

Starch 32 56 

Sugar 5 I5 

Gluten 3 i 

Gum 4 15 

Resin i i 

100 TOO 

The business career of C. F. Conkey 
began in 1856, when he entered into 
partnership with John M. Van Bus- 
kirk, under the firm-name of Conkey 
& Van Buskirk, malsters; the malt- 
house being on the northwest corner 
of Canal Avenue and Second Street. 
On the dissolution of the partnership, 
in i860, C. F. Conkey continued in 
the business. In 1864, he purchased 
the Read Brothers' malt-house, on the 
northeast corner of Ferry and Sixth 
streets. In 1867, he purchased the 
plat of ground, the site of his present 
malt-house, having a measurement of 
two hundred and fifty feet on River 
Street and one hundred and thirty on 
Adams Street. In the s'pring of 1876, 
he erected the large malt-house, in 
which, in the fall of the same year, 



he began making malt. The building 
is adjacent the tracks of the Hudson 
River and New York Central, and 
the Troy and Boston railroads, which 
contribute available facilities for the 
receipt and shipment of barley and 
malt. His success as a malster is ap- 
parent in the large shipments of malt 
to many brewers in the state of New 
York and in the New England states 

Mansion House, one of the 

largest hotels in the city, is on the 

northeast corner of Broadway and 
Second Street. 

Mantels, Marbleized Slate— 

C. W. Billings, manufacturer of 
marbleized slate mantels, southeast 
corner of North Third and Ilutton 
streets. The art of counterfeiting 
the handiwork of Nature lias been at- 
tained to such perfection as to cause 
no little astonishment to those who 
for the first time inspect the excellent 
imitations made by man. By mechan- 
ical and chemical processes a marble- 
ized sla'.e is made at the manufactory 
of Charles W. Billings which seems 
not only to possess the varied tracery 
of veined marble and all the effects of 
the natural stone, but, singular, as it 
is true, it preserves its lustre longer 
and is not discolorable as the latter. 
The slate is obtained from quarries in 
Vermont, and is subjected at the 
works in Troy to the tools of the pat- 
tern designer and afterward to the 
processes of undertoning and mar- 
bling, and finally to the action of 
heat. The marbles of Spain, of 
Egypt, and of this country are so 
faithfully imitated that it is difficult to 
detect the dissimilarity existing lie- 
tween the real and the manufactured 
specimens. The imitations of rose- 
wood, walnut, and other ornamental 
wood also manufactured at the es- 
tablishment, are very attractive anrf 



197 



beautiful. The mantels con- 
structed with them and the 
marbleized slate are very elaborate 
and artistic. Mounted in brass or 
other metallic frames, with fenders of 
the same metal, they ornament a par- 
lor, sitting-room, or library in a hand- 
some manner. Besides manufacturing 
marbleized slate and wood mantels, 
C. W. Billings also employs his 
skilled workmen in making marble- 
ized bureau, wash-stand, and table 



North Third and Hutton streets, 
previously the Pond Brothers' 
foundry. In 1866, his son, C. W. 
Billings, succeeded to the business,who 
afterward renovated and enlarged the 
building to meet the demands of the 
rapidly mcreased patronage which his 
enterprise and productions had ob- 
tained. 

Marble-work. — (See Mantels, 
and Monuments). 




c. w. billings' mantel works. 



slabs, hearth tiles and facings, floor- 
tiles, improved grates, and many other 
useful and decorative specialities. 
The manufactory is a large, three- 
story, brick building, fronting seventy- 
eight feet on North Third Street and 
extending one hundred and thirty to 
North Fourth Street. The business 
was begun, in i860, by Edwin A. 
Billings, the father of the present pro- 
prietor of the works, at No. 421 River 
:^treet. In 1861, he moved to the 
building on the southeast corner of 



Masonic Organizations.— At 

the time that the first emigrants from 
the New England States began set- 
tling on the site of Troy, Hiram 
Lodge, No. 35, of Ancient Free and 
Accepted Masons, at Lansingburgh, 
was the only body of the fraternity in 
the state north of Albany. The war- 
rant granting the lodge's institution 
was given August 16, 1787. 

Apollo Lodge, No. 49. In the 
spring of 1796, a number of Masons 



198 



in the village of Troy circulated a pe- 
tition to obtain a warrant from the 
Grand Lodge enpowering them to 
form a lodge to be named Apollo 
Lodge. The petitioners were John 
Bird, John Woodworth, Samuel 
Miner, John Efnor, Chester Trues- 
dell, Howard Moulton, Thomas 
Sickles, William Roberts, Elbert 
Willett, jr., David B. Lynsen, John 
Weller, William White, Benjamin 
Gorton, Samuel Gale, Jeremiah 
Pierce, Stephen Ashley, Lyman Ellis, 
Marvel Ellis, David Squires, John 
Landon, Nicholas M. Servat, Jesse 
Bacon, and John Pease. In the latter 
part of May, the paper was sent to 
the Grand Lodge, which, on June 19, 
that year, acceded to the request of the 
petitioners and empowered them to 
form a lodge to be distinguished by 
the name of Apollo Lodge, No. 49. 
On December 5, 1796, the organizers 
of the lodge met and selected the sub- 
ordinate officers. Meanwhile a room 
in Howard Moulton's Coffee House, 
on the west side of Second Street, af- 
terward renovated and made the 
Troy Female Seminary, was suitably 
furnished for the meetings of the lodge, 
which met there on Monday, Decem- 
ber 12, when the first officers were duly 
installed. The occasion had the fol- 
lowing mention made of it in the 
American Spy of December 13, 1796, 
published in Lansingburgh: 

"Yesterday was installed in this 
village [Troy] a new lodge by the 
name of Apollo Lodge. The officers 
nominated in the charter are John 
Bird, Esq., W. Master; John Wood- 
worth, Esq., Senior Warden; and Mr. 
Samuel Miner, Junior Warden. The 
ceremony of installation was per- 
formed by Mr. James Dole, Master 
of Hiram Lodge, Lansingburgh, to- 
gether with his officers, and some of the 
respectable and knowing Masons of the 
city of Albany, who, with the members 
of the new lodge and occasional vis- 



itants, moved in solemn procession 
from Mr. Ashley's inn to Mr. Moulton's 
Lodge Chamber, where the ceremony 
was performed. The greatest decorum 
was maintained, and the cheerful yet 
decent hilarity which was excited on 
the occasion did honor to the prin- 
ciples of the Institution and to the 
respectable characters who composed 
the company. We have reason to 
hope the new constellation will shed 
with steady and superior light in the 
galaxy of the royal art." 

The subordinate officers installed 
weie Marvel Ellis, treasurer; Jesse 
Bacon, secretary; Lyman Ellis, senior 
deacon; Chester Truesdell, junior dea- 
con; Howard Moulton, senior steward ; 
and Benjamin Gorton, junior steward. 
On Tuesday, December 13, the first 
regular communication was held, 
and on Tuesday evening, Janu- 
^'■y 3> 1797. the by-laws were adopted. 
The first and third Tuesday of each 
month, between September 25 and 
March 25, and the first Tuesday of 
each month between March 25 and 
September 25, "at the hour of six 
in the evening," were designated 
"general or publick lodge nights." 

The lodge, in May, 1797, purchased 
a bassoon, a violoncello, two clarionets, 
a hautboy, and a French horn, with 
which some of the members furnished 
instrumental music. The instruments 
were sometimes borrowed and used on 
certain occasions in the Presbyterian 
meeting-house. In October, 1799, 
a lodge was fitted and furnished in 
Pierce's inn, on River Street, near 
Ferry Street, and was occupied until 
the spring of 1813, when another in 
the tavern of Zachariah Curtis, on the 
southeast corner of Third and Elbow 
(Fulton) streets, was rented. In 1824, 
St. John's Hall, a large room in the 
Troy House, was fitted for the use of 
Apollo Lodge and the members of 
Apollo Chapter of Royal Arch Ma- 
sons. It was dedicated on Saturday 



199 



evening, February 7, that year. It was 
there, on September iS, 1824, that the 
Manjuis de La Fayette was received 
under an arch inscribed : " Welcome 
La Fayette," lettered by Ebenezer 
Prescott, deceased, one of the early 
members of the lodge. In March, 
1834, a lodge-room was occupied in 
Huddleston Hall, Nos, 264 and 268 
River Street. The room was also 
called St. John's Hall. 

AroLLO Lodge, No. 13, received 
this numerical designation in 1839 
from the Grand Lodge which, on ac- 
count of the secession of certain lodges 
in the state, then renumliered those 
remaining under its jurisdiction. In 
1842, the new rooms in the Masonic 
Hall, No. 279 River Street, were oc- 
cupied by Apollo Lodge. Those 
fitted for its use in the Mutual Bank 
Building, on the northeast corner of 
First and State streets, were dedica- 
ted, December 27, 1S53. On the 
second Tuesday in April, 1S72, the 
first regular communication was held 
by the lodge in the newly erected 
Masonic Temple on Third Street. 
The lodge's stated communications are 
held on Tuesdays. 

King Solomon's Primitive 
Lodge. No. 91, was chartered June 
4. 1842. The lodge was organized 
June 30, that year, and on August 11, 
the first officers were installed at Ma- 
sonic Hall, No. 279 River Street. 
They were Achille J. Rousseau, w. m. ; 
John S. Perry, s. w.; Joseph A. Wood, 
j. w.; S. G. Huntington, treasurer; G. 
H. Bull, secretary; N. T. Woodruff, 
s. d. ; H. K. Smith, j. d. The lodge's 
stated communications are held on 
Thursdays in the Masonic Temple. 

Mount Zion Lodge, No. 311, 
was chartered June 13, 1853, and in- 
stituted July II, that year. First 
three officers: John S. Perry, w. m.; 
James S. Keeler, s. w. ; Riley W. 
Kenyon, j. w. The lodge's stated 



communications are held on Mondays 
in the Masonic Temple. 

Apollo Mark Masters' Lodge, 
No. 35, was organized in 1807. 
First three officers: Ira M. Wells, r. 
w. m.; S: F. Richards and Samuel 
Reed. 

Apollo Chapter of Royal Arch 
Masons, No. 48, was chartered Feb- 
uary 10, 1816. First three officers: 
Ira M. Wells, h. p.; William Neafust, 
k.; Asa Athony s. 

Delta Lodge of Perfection, in- 
effable degrees, 4"-i4'^, was organ- 
ized in 1870. Regular communication 
on the third Friday of each month. 

Delta Council P. of J. Ancient 
and traditional grades, 15° and 160. 
Regular convocation on the third 
Friday of each month. 

Delta Chapter Rose Croix. 
Philosophical, doctrinal, and chivalric 
grades, 17° and iS°. Regular meet- 
ings, first Friday of each month. 

Bloss Council, No. 14, R. and S. 
M., was organized, November 23, 1859, 
under the dispensation and warrant, 
granted, November 16, that year. 
Stated assembly first Friday of each 
month. 

Apollo Commandery, No. 15, 
Knights Templars, was organized 
under a dispensation granted August 
12, 1839. ^^ August 26, that year, 
the following officers were installed at 
St. John's Hall: Sir Joel G. Candee, 
p.; Abel Wetherbee, s. w.; James 
Hinds, j. w.; Simeon Rowell, 
treasurer; Stephen C. Leggett, re- 
corder; Benjamin Marshall, s. b., 
George W. Hicks, s. b,; John S, 
Perry, w.; and Richmond Jones, 
Jacob Danker, and Harris W. Bates, 
guards. Warrant granted by the 
Grand Commandery, June 4, 
1841. First grand commander, 
Thomas S.Wells, Stated conclaves are 



200 

held on the second and fourth the Masonic organizations of the city 
Fridays of each month in the Masonic to procure a site and to erect on it a 
Temple. building for the use of the fraternity 



: 



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MASONIC TEMPLE. 



Masonic Temple, west side of in Troy. On January 17, that year, 

Third Street, between Broadway and the committee determined to purchase 

River Street. At the beginning of for $30,000 the two lots on which ihe 

the year 1871, it was deemed advis- temple is built. The Masonic Hall 

able by the general room-committee of Association was incorporated February 



201 



15, iSyi, with a capital stock of$75,- 
ooo, divided into 3000 shares of $25. 
On June 19, 1871, the erection of the 
building was begun; the first stone 
of the foundation being laid that 
day. On August 2, the cor- 
ner-stone was laid by George 
Babcock, (acting) grand master of an 
emergent grand lodge of the stale of 
New York; a large number of the 
members of the Grand Lodge and of 
the Masonic lodges in the city, and 
of those of West Troy, Cohoes, and 
Lansingburgh having previously 
moved in a procession through some 
of the streets of the city. Jesse B. 
Anthony, Past Master of King Solo- 
mon's Primitive Lodge, delivered the 
oration. The temple was dedicated 
April 2, 1872. The total cost of the 
site, the building, and its furniture 
was about $100,000. The building 
has a frontage of fifty feet and a 
depth of one hundred and thirty-four 
feet. The different rooms in it are 
suitably and handsomely furnished. 

Mayors. — The persons holding 
the office of mayor until 1821 were ap- 
pointed annually by the governor and 
council of appointment of the state; 
afterward until 1840, they were elec- 
ted annually by the common council, 
then, and subsequently by the people: 

Albert Pawling, 1816 — 1820; Esaias 
Warren, 1820 — 1828; Samuel McCoun, 
1828— 1830; George Tibbits, 1830— 
1836; Richard P. Hart, 1S36— 1838, 
Jonas C. Heartt, 1838 — 1S43; Gur-; 
don Corning, 1843 — 1847; Francis N. 
Mann, 1847— 1850; Day O. Kellogg, 
iSsoto November, 1850; Hanford N. 
Lockwood, November, 185010 March, 
1S51; Joseph M. Wairen, 1S51 — 1852; 
George Gould, 1S52 — 1853; Foster 
Bosworth, 1853 to December, 1S53; 
Elias Plum, December, 1853 to March, 
1854; Jonathan Edwards, 1854 — 1855; 
John A. Griswold, 1855 — 1856; Hiram 
Slocum, 1856 — 1857; Alfred Wotkyns, 

27 



1857—1858; Arba Read, 1858—1860; 
Lsaac McConihe, jr., i860 — 1861; 
George B. Warren, jr., 1861 — 1862; 
James Thorn, 1862 — 1863; William 
L. Van Alstyne, 1863 — 1864; J'lmes 
Thorn, 1864— 1865; Uri Gilbert, 
1865— 1866; John L. Flagg, 1866— 
1868; Miles Beach, 1S68— 1870; Uri 
Gilbert, 1870—1871; Thomas B. 
Carol!, 1871 — 1873 ; William Kemp, 
1873 — 1875 ; Edward Murphy, jr., 
1875, to November 14, 1882; Ed- 
mund Fitzgerald, November 14, 
1882, to present time. 

McCarthy Building, Nos. 255, 
257, 259 River Street, was erected in 
1883 by Peter McCarthy. Tsaac Keith, 
dealer in furniture, occupies a part of 
the building. (See Furniture.) W, 
A. Sherman, dealer in stoves and 
house furnishing goods, and agent for 
the sale in Troy and vicinity of the 
Fuller & Warren Company's stoves 
and furnaces, has his warerooms in 
the north part of the attractive struc- 
ture. 

Meehanicville, incorporated 
July 16, 1859, is a station on the 
Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad, 
twelve miles from Troy. It is also a 
station on the Boston, Hoosac 
Tunnel and Western Railway. It 
was early known as "the Borough." 
It contains five churches, an academy, 
three hotels, a number of stores, and 
several large manufactories. The 
Meehanicville Mercury is the only 
newspaper published in the village. 
Population 1,265. 

Medical Societies. — 

Rensselaer County Homeo- 
pathic Medical Society was organ- 
ized in Troy, October 6, 1859. 

Rensselaer County Medical 
Society was organized in the court- 
house, on Tuesday, July i, 1806. 




McCarthy Building. 



203 



First officers: Benjamin Woodward, 
president; John Loudon, vice-presi- 
dent; Samuel Gale, treasurer; Ira 
M. Wells, secretary; Ely Burritt, 
Moses Willard, Hezekiah Eldridge, 
David Doolittle, and Benjamin Rowe, 
censors. The society meets annually 
on the second Tuesday in January, 
and holds stated meetings on the 
second Tuesday of each month, except- 
ing in the months of January, June, 
July, and August, in the rooms of the 
Board of Health, in the city-hall. 



Men's Furnishing Goods. — 

J. E. ScHOONMAKER & Co., men's 
furnishing goods. No, g Mansion 
House, north side of Broadway, be- 
tween Second and Third streets. The 
distinction of manufacturing and sell- 
ing only such goods as are worthy of 
commendation for excellence of ma- 
terial and perfection of workmanship 
has obtained for this firm the marked 
popularity it enjoys. The behests of 
fashion are seasonably expressed in 
the style and class of the goods found 
in the large and varied stock of the 
firm. Fine shirts, attractive under- 
wear, stylish collars and cuffs, hand- 
some neckwear, plain and fancy hand- 
kerchiefs, prettily patterned hosiery, 
perfectly fitting kid and other desir- 
able gloves, a large number of suspend- 
ers and patented braces, elaborately 
made dressing-gowns, smoking caps, 
gentlemen's jewelry, silk and mohair 
umbrellas, canes and walking-sticks, 
are contained in the stock of the 
firm's well-appointed store. The 
business was begun by Cluetts & 
Burrage, at No. 248 River Street, 
whence in 1874, it was moved to No. 
7 Cannon Place, where, in 1876, 
Robert Cluett & Co., (George B. 
Cluett, Bro. & Co.) succeeded to it. In 
1879, J. E. Schoonmaker became a 
copartner with Robert Cluett, and 
they conducted the business as Robert 



Cluett & Co., at No. 8 Cannon Place. 
On September i, 1880, the latter firm 
was succeeded by that of J. E. Schoon- 
maker & Co., at No. 270 River 
Street. On December 10, 1884, the 
firm moved to its present store. No. 
9 Mansion House. 

Stamper & Strait, men's fur- 
nishing goods, No. 316 River Street. 
(See Addenda.) 

Mercantile Agency, The, 
of R. G. Dun & Co., Henry C. 
Smith, manager, is on the second floor 
of the building No. 280 River Street. 
This local bureau of information re- 
lating to the financial standing of men 
engaged in the business in this city 
and in other places in the United 
States is a branch of the long-estab- 
lished continental agency founded in 
1841 by Lewis Tappan, who, in 1845, 
formed a partnership with Benjamin 
Douglass. On the former's with- 
drawal from the business in 1849, 
Arthur Tappan, his brother, and Ben- 
jamin Douglass, under the firm-name 
of Tappan & Douglass conducted the 
prosperous agency until 1854, when 
the firm of B. Douglass & Co., took its 
management. On the retirement of 
the senior member in 1859, R. G. 
Dun, the junior partner, took con- 
trol of the business, which now is so 
extensive that the July edition of the 
agency's reference book contained the 
names and ratings of not less than a 
million of individuals, firms, and cor- 
porations doing business in this 
country. 

The Troy branch was established in 
1872, with R. H, Stevens, manager; 
the office being on the second floor of 
the building, No. 276 River Street. In 
1877, when E. S. Scranton was man- 
ager, large rooms on the second story 
of the building. No. 267 River Street, 
west side, were occupied. E. S. 
Scranton, in 1880, was succeeded by 



204 



George F. Sims. On the latter's death 
in April, 1881, Henry C. Smith, the 
present efficient manager, became his 
successor. The daily information ob- 
tained by the company is made avail- 
able to its patrons both by printed 
sheets and special notifications. The 
offices are suitably fitted and furnished 
for the transaction of the large local 
business of this prominent mercantile 
agency. 

Messenger Service. — (See 
American District Telegraph 
Company.) 

M e t h o d i s t E p i s c o p a 1 
Churches. — There are nine Metho- 
dist Churches in the city. 

State Street Church, north- 
west corner of State and Fifth streets. 
The organization of the first society 
of Methodists in Troy was effected by 
the pioneer preachers of the Cam- 
bridge circuit established in 1788. 
As early as 1 793, there were a few 
followers of John Wesley in the vil- 
lage holding prayer-meetings. Troy 
was included m the Cambridge cir- 
cuit in 1795. The class had thirteen 
members in 1797. It is recorded in the 
minutes of the quarterly conference 
that a Brother Betts reported for 
Troy. Lorenzo Dow, on the Cam- 
bridge circuit, visited the village in 
1797, and preached in the houses of 
some of the members of the society. 
In 1800, the Rev. Michael Coates of 
the Pittsfield circuit, to which Troy 
was then connected, statedly preached 
in the village; the class having thirty 
members under the leadership of 
William Cleveland. Among the most 
zealous Methodists in Troy at this 
time were Joel Ketchum, Caleb 
Curtis, Samuel Goodrich, sr., Ben- 
jamin Betts, William Cleveland, 
Stephen Andres, and Archibald Gray. 
In 1802, the Rev. Elias Vanderlip, 



became discouraged with the back- 
slidings of some of the members of the 
class and withdrew his appointment of 
preaching in the village. It is said 
that Caleb Curtis and several women 
were the only persons representing 
the society during the period of de- 
clension. At the former's house, the 
Rev. Samuel Howe preached, as also 
did Lorenzo Dow, in 1802, "two 
evenings in succession, the room and 
entry " being " filled with neighbors." 
The celebrated itinerant, in his 
journal, mentions his visits to Troy, 
"where there was some revival of the 
class." In 1805, the Rev. Elijah 
Chichester revived the society and en- 
rolled the names of seven class-mem- 
bers; Caleb Curtis being class leader. 
The inconveniences of holding meet- 
ings in the rooms of dwelling houses 
and in the court-house led the mem- 
bers of the growing society to elect 
trustees according to the laws of the 
state of New York, and thereafter to 
erect a house of worship. On Decem- 
ber 8, 1808, David Canfield, Eliph- 
alet King, and Samuel Scoby, were 
elected trustees of the " Methodist 
Episcopal Church of the village of 
Troy." Two lots, numbered 743 and 
744, on the east side of Slate Street, 
and on the northeast corner of the 
alley, between Fourth and Fifth 
streets, price $500, were obtained of 
Jacob D. Van der Heyden; the so- 
ciety paying an interest of $35 an- 
nually until it was able to make the 
purchase of the ground. On January 
2, 1809, a subscription was begun to 
obtain money "for the purpose of 
building a meeting-house for divine 
worship." The same year, the erection 
of a weather-boarded building, two 
stories high, was undertaken. The 
society not having sufficient funds to 
complete the meeting-house, common 
wooden benches and a plain pulpit 
took the place of more desirable 
furniture. In 18 10, the Rev. William 




SECOND AND THIRD STATE STREET M. E. CHURCHES, IS7I. 



206 



Phoebus was appointed to the pastor- 
ate of the church, but "he found no 
prospect of an adequate support and 
he left the charge by the consent of 
the presiding elder." The member- 
ship was much increased by the re- 
vival of February, iSii, conducted 
by the Rev. Lewis Pease of the 
Lebanon circuit. Shortly afterward 
the Rev. Smith Arnold was appointed 
to the pastorate and served the con- 
gregation acceptably for one year. 
He was succeeded by the Rev. Peter 
P. Sanford in i8i2. As there were 
no quarterly meetings held in Troy 
before the erection of the church, no 
love-feasts were held, nor were the 
the sacraments of the Lord's 
Supper celebrated. Those of the 
members desiring to be partici- 
pants of them went to Ashgrove, in 
the town of Cambridge, but more 
frequently to Pittstown or Cooks- 
borough. In 1827, the "old white 
church" was moved to the northwest 
corner of State and Fifth streets, 
where it was shortly afterward used 
for the sittings of the courts while the 
present court-house was building. On 
the plat of ground occupied by the 
first meeting-house, a brick edifice, 
fifty-five feet wide and sixiy-six long, 
was erected. It was dedicated by 
Bishop Hedding, December i, 1827. 
In 1867, the erection of the present 
attractive stone edifice was under- 
taken. On Thursday afternoon, 
June 25, 1868, the corner-stone was 
laid by the Rev. Truman Seymour; 
the Rev. George W. Brown, pastor, 
assisting. Addresses were delivered 
by the Rev. Stephen D. Brown of 
New York, and the Rev. Erastus 
Wentworth, D. D. of Pittsfield, 
Mass. The building erected accord- 
ing to the plans of the architects, 
Woollett & Ogden, was completed, 
excepting the steeple, in 1871. On 
Thursday morning, March 30, the 
church ^was dedicated by Bishop 



Matthew Simpson, who preached the 
dedicatory sermon. The edifice has 
a frontage of 75 feet on State Street, 
and a depth of 100 feet on Fifth 
Street. The auditorium, 59 by 70 
feet, has 650 sittings; the gallery 250. 
The tower, ig feet square, rises to 
the height of 85 feet; when completed 
with staeple, the height from the 
sidewalk to the finial on the spire 
will be 175 feet. Estimated cost of 
the church when completed $100,000, 
The old brick church was torn down 
in the winter of 1871. The corner- 
stone of the stone chapel on the west 
side of the church was laid on Thurs- 
day afternoon. May 30, 1882. The 
building was dedicated March 29, 
1883. 

Pastors: William Phoebus, 1810 ; 
Smith Arnold, 1811 ; Peter P. San- 
ford, 1812; Laban Clark, 1813 to 1814; 
Tobias Spicer, 1815 to 1816; Samuel 
Luckey, 181710 1818; William Ross, 
1819 to 1820; Benjamin Griffen, 1821 
to 1822; Noah Bigelow, 1823; James 
M. Smith, 1824 to 1825; Stephen 
Martindale, 1826 to 1827; Samuel 
Merwin, 1828 to 1829, assisted in 
1829 by the Rev. John Tackaberry; 
John B. Stratton, 1830 to 1831; Buel 
Goodsell, 1832 to 1833; Noah Levings, 
1834 to 1835; Truman Seymour, 1836 
to 1S37; Stephen Remington, 1838 to 
1839; Charles P.Clarke, 1840 to 1841; 
Noah Levings, 1842; James Covel. jr., 
1843 to 1844. assisted by 
John W. Lindsay; Luman A. Sand- 
ford, 1845 to 1846, A. W. 
Garvin, associate; Allen Steele. 1847 
to 1848; Zephaniah N. Lewis, 1849 to 
1850; Stephen D. Brown, 1851 to 
1852; Lester James, 1S53; Halsey W. 
Ransom, 1854 to 1855; Stephen 
Parks, 1856 to 1857; Joseph K. 
Chesseman, 1858 to 1859; Ira G Bed- 
well, i860 to 1 86 1, assisted by Prof. 
C. T. Lewis; Charles W. Gushing, 
1862 to 1863; Stephen D. Brown, 
1864; Erastus Wentworth, 1865 to 



20'i 



1867; George W. Brown, 1868 to 
1870; William H. Hughes, 1871 to 
1873; Henry D. Kimball, 1874 to 
1S77; George J. Brown, 1877 to 1880; 
William J. Stevenson, D. D., 1880 to 
18S2: Ensign McChesney, Ph. D., 
1882 to 1885; J. E. C. Sawyer, 1S85 
to present time. 

North Second Street Church, 
northeast corner of North Second and 
Jacob streets. In 1831, the growth 
of the city northward suggested to 
some of the members of the State 
Street Methodist Church the expe- 
diency of taking advantage of the in- 
creased population in the fourth ward 
by building a church there, which in 
time liy accessions of converts and of 
persons already belonging to the de- 
nomination residing in that part of the 
city might become self-supporting. 
At a quarterly conference held on 
August 8, that year, in the State 
Street church, William W. Whipple, 
Eli Townsend, Stephen Andres, 
Daniel Mervin, jr., and Independence 
Starks were appointed a committee to 
provide a place where meetings could 
he held in the fourth ward of the city. 
Perceiving that lot 228, on the north- 
east corner of North Second and 
Jacob streets, would be a suitable 
site for a church, Eli Townsend, James 
Wallace, and Jefferson Gardner, per- 
sonally purchased the plot for $1,500 
on August 13, 1831. At the quarterly 
conference, on May 12, 1832, the trus- 
tees of the State Street Church were 
instructed to buy the property. On 
March 13, 1833, the board of trustees 
determined to take the lot at the 
price of $1,500, and to pay the expenses 
which had accrued on it since it was 
purchased by Eli Townsend and his 
associates, "for the purpose of build- 
ing a church thereon." Later in the 
year a committee began circulating a 
subscription to obtain money to erect 
a church. On May 13, 1834, the 



trustees of the State Street Church re- 
solved to proceed to build as soon 
as the sum of $4,000 should be sub- 
scribed. On June 5, the subscriptions 
having exceeded that sum, the trus- 
tees determined to proceed to make 
the contracts for "inclosing the con- 
templated church," and "to have the 
building inclosed, if possible," by the 
first of November. On June 14, 
Zina P. Eggleston, Thomas L. Ostrom, 
and Jesse Anthony were appointed 
the building committee. On August 
21, 1835, the trustees of the State 
Street Church determined by resolu- 
tion "that our new church be dedi- 
cated on Sabbath, the 30lh day of 
August." The church was a brick 
building with a basement. The plan 
of the structure was projected by G. 
& H. Landon. As soon as the rooms 
in the basement were finished they 
were used for week-day and Sunday 
services, and by the Sunday-school 
which had been organized on June 2, 
1835, in Miss Annie Manwarring's 
school-room, on the west side of 
North Second Street, between Federal 
and Jacob streets. On Sunday after- 
noon, August 30, Bishop Elijah 
Hedding preached the dedication 
sermon. On January 13, 1836, it was 
resolved by the trustees of the State 
Street Church that the real and per- 
sonal property belonging to the Troy 
Station should be divided between the 
State Street congregation and the 
North Second Street congregation; the 
former to take the church and parson- 
age on State Street and one thousand 
dollars more of the aggregate amount 
of the debts than the North Second 
Street congregation, which was to re- 
ceive the church it worshiped in 
and was to assume the payments of its 
proportion of the debts. By this ac- 
tion, the North Second Street Metho- 
dist Church became a separate, self- 
supporting organization. The erec- 
tion of the present house of worship 




NORTH SECOND STREET M. E. CHURCH. 



209 



was first considered by the trustees at 
a meeting held by them on April 4, 
1S54. At a meeting lield a week 
later, it was determined to build a 
brick edifice on the site of the old 
structure. While the building was 
erecting the congregation worshiped 
in the Tabernacle, or old Fourth Pres- 
byterian Church, on the northwest cor- 
ner of Elbow (Fulton)and Fifth streets. 
The new building having been com- 
pleted, it was dedicated on Friday, 
December 2g, 1S54; Bishop Edmund 
S. Janes preaching the dedicatory ser- 
mon. 

Pastors: S. D. Ferguson, 1835 to 
1836; Charles Sherman, 1836 to 1S3S; 
Peter C. Oakley, 1838 to 1839; Noah 
Levings, 1839 to 1S40; Henry L. 
Starks, 1840 to 1S42; Merritt Bates, 
1842 to 1843; Charles Sherman, 1843 
to 1844, (died March 10, 1844); S. L. 
Stillman, 1844 to 1846; Sanford 
Washburn, 184610 1848; (Alanson W. 
Garvin, associate, 1847 to 1849); 
Benjamin Pomeroy, 1848 to 1849; Wil- 
liam A. Miller, 1848 to 185 1; Berea 
O. Meeker, 1851 to 1853; Stephen I). 
Brown, 1853 to 1855; L. D. Stebbins, 
1855 to 1857; Albinus Johnson. 1857 to 
1858; J. F. Vates, 1858 to i860; San- 
ford Washburn, i860 to 1S62; Erastus 
Wentworth, D. D., 1862 to 1S65; 
John W. Carhart, 1S65 to 1868; 
James M. King, 1868 to 1871; Hiram 
C. Sexton, 1871 to 1873; Samuel 
Meredith, 1873 to 1876; H. C. Farrar, 
1876 to 1879; Henry Graham, 1879 to 
1882; H. C. Farrar, 1882 to 1885; 
Henry Graham, D. D., 1885 to pres- 
ent time. 

Pawling Avenue Church is on 
the north side of Washington Street, 
in Albia. As a large number of the 
members of State Street Church were 
residents of Albia in the fifth ward of 
the city, it was resolved by the trus- 
tees of State Street Church, on 
August 15, 1826, that Jolin Usher, 
Barney Weatherwax, and Caleb 
28 



Knight should be "a committee of su- 
perintendence to the building of a 
Methodist meeting-house in the vil- 
lage of Albia for the use of the mem- 
bers." In 1829, the Rev. John 
Tackaberry was appointed to assist 
the Rev. Samuel Mervin at Slate 
Street Church; the former having 
charge of the mission at Albia. In 

1830, the appointment for Troy in- 
cluded Albia; the Rev. Abialhar M. 
Osbon, assisting the Rev. John B. 
Stratton. preached at Albia. In 

1831, the Rev. Abiathar M. Osbon 
was appointed to take charge of the 
church at Albia. On the tab- 
let in the front wall of the church 
is in.scribed: Erected A. D. 1827. 
Rebuilt, A. D. 1858. In 1868, the 
church was called the Pawling Avenue 
Church. 

Pastors: Abiathar M. O.sbon, 
1831 to 1832; Edwin F. White, 1832 
to 1833; Aaron Hall, 1853 to 1855; 
Jeremiah S. Hart, 1855 to 1856; 
Samuel Hewes, 1857 to 1859: E. S. 
Stout, 1859 to i860; Z. Phillips, 1S60 
to 1861; Lorenzo Barber, 1861 to 
1862; G. H. Gregory, 1862 to 1863; 
W. H. Hughes, 1863 to 1865; C. M. 
Pegg. 1865 to 1867; J. W. Thompson, 
1867 to 1869; J. K. Wager, 1869 to 
1870; G. C. Bancroft, 1871 to 1872; 
W. B. Osgood, 1872 to 1874; Egbert 
A. Braman, 1874 to 1877; A. C. Rose, 
1877 to 1880; W, H. Groat, 1880 to 
1S83; A. S. Clark, 1883 to 1884; J. C. 
Russum, 1884 to present time. 

Levings' Chapel is on the north 
side of Mill Street. On Septemlier 
24, 1838, a number of persons, desig- 
nating themselves members of the 
Fourth Methodist Church in Troy. met 
at their usual place of worship and 
there elec'ed Stephen Frank, William 
Stewart, Charles Dibble, Joseph Car- 
lin, and Philip Hoyle trustees of 
"Levings' Chapel in the city of Troy." 
Tlie church in which the congregation 
now worships was erected in 1850. 



210 



Pastors: J. W. Belknap, 1851 to 
1852; T. Spicer, 1852 to 1853; Aaron 
Hill, 1853 to 1855; Jeremiah S. Hart, 
1855 to 1857; Samuel Hewes, 1857 to 
1859; E. S. Stout, 1859 to i860; Z. 
Phillips, i860 to 1861; S. P. Williams, 
1861 to 1863; Hiram C. Sexton, 1863 
to 1865; Robert Fox, 1865 to 1867; 
George C. Morehouse, 1867 to 1869; 
Charles F. Noble, 1869 to 1872; John 
W. Quinlan, 1872 to 1874; William 
Bedell, 1874 to 1877; H. W. Slocum, 
1877 to 1879; Samuel Meredith, 1879 
to 1882; C. A. S. Heath, 18S2 to 
1885 ; C. R. Hawley, 1885 to present 
time. 

Third Street Church, on the 
northeast corner of Third and Monroe 
streets, was erected in 1847, and dedi- 
cated on December 25, that year. The 
congregation was organized in 1843 
as a mission. On March 29, 1844, 
some of the male members elected 
George Christie, Joseph Carlin, Wil- 
liam Barrett, Daniel Hudson, and 
Enoch Hunt trustees of the church. 
In 1873, the building was reconstruct- 
ed. In the spring of 1S84, the or- 
ganization became a self-supporting 
church. 

Pastors: Oliver Emerson, 1846 to 
1847; E. Noble, 1S47 to 1849; A- A- 
Farr and L. Marshall, 1S49 to 1850; 
C. R. Ford, 1850 to 1S51; J. W. 
Belknap, 1851 to 1853; John M. 
Weaver, 1853 to 1854; Jeremiah Hill, 
1854 to 1855; M. B. Mead, 1855 to 
1856; Elon Foster, 1856 to 1857; D. 
W. Dayton, 1857 to 1859; E. Goss, 
1859 to 1861; R. T. Wade, 1861 to 
1863; D. Lvttle, 1863 to 1865: D. T. 
Elliott, 1865 to 1867; C. M. Pegg. 1867 
to 1868; Alverson Senter, 1868 to 
1871; S. W. Edgerton, 1871 to 1872; 
B. M. Hall, 1872 to 1873; Wilbur F. 
Sanford, (also Hoosick Street), 1S73 to 
1874; George C. Bancroft, 1874 to 
1877; J. W. Belknap, 1878; Edgar H. 
Brown, 1884 to present time. 



Trinity Church, east side of 
Thirteenth Street, near the inteisec- 
tion of Thirteenth and Congress 
streets, A number of persons con- 
nected with the State Street, the North 
Second Street, and the Third Street 
Methodist churches became members 
of a class which in the fall of 1846 be- 
gan worshiping statedly at the resi- 
dence of Isaac Hillman, No. 1S8 
Congress Street, Ida Hill. On Octo- 
ber 8, that year, the male members of 
the congregation assembled there for 
the purpose of electing five trustees. 
Isaac Hillman, Jonathan T. Williams, 
William H. Robbins, Stephen Mun- 
ro, and James N. Ausiin were then 
elected trustees of the "church to be 
known by the name and title of the 
Congress Street Methodist Episcopal 
Church." In June, 1847, a weather- 
boarded building, commonly called 
the "Hemlock Church," was erected 
on the south side of Ferry Street, at 
its intersection with Congress Street, 
and in this meeting-house the congre- 
gation worshiped for two years. A 
more eligible location on Thirteenth 
Street having been selected for the 
erection of a larger building, a brick 
one was built on the site of the pres- 
ent church. The cornerstone was 
laid in October, 184S and the build- 
ing dedicated, July 12, 1849; the 
dedicatory sermon being preached by 
Bishop L. L. Hamline of Oirio, 
Bishop Elijah Hedding assisting in 
the services. The entire cost of the 
site, building, and furniture was $6,- 
199 84. The church was erected a 
free one. and no pew rents were de- 
manded of those worshiping in it. 
The church, which had been a mis- 
sion since the organization of the 
congregation, was recognized in June, 
1850, as an independent one, and 
the Rev. A. A. Farr, who had 
preached there the preceding year, 
was appointed its pastor. 



211 



Some of the members of the body, 
dissatisfied with the change of the lo- 
cation of the church, withdrew and 
erected on the site of the "Hemlock 
Church" a brick building, which was 
known as the Wesleyan Church. It 
is now used for other purposes. 

The Congress Street Church was 
enlarged in i860, and rededicated that 



Pastors: Edward Noble, 1847 to 
1849: A. A. Farr, 1849 *o 1S51; 
L. Marshall, 1849 to 1850 ; E. 
Goss, 1851 to 1853; Seymour Cole- 
man, 1853 to T855; H. Blanchard, 
1855 to 1857; C. F. Burdick, 1857 to 
1859; A. J. Jutkins, 1859 to 1861; D. 
P. Hulburd, 1861 to 1S63; George C. 
Wells, 1863 to 1865; Ensign Stover, 




TRINITY M. E. CHURCH. 



year by Bishop Matthew Simpson. In 
x88o, it was renovated, enlarged, and 
attractively improved in appearance 
by the addition of corner towers and 
other architectural features, at a cost 
of $14,084.94. The building was re- 
dedicated, December 2S, 18S0, and 
given the name of Trinity Church. 



1865 to 1868; M. Hulburd, 186S to 
1870; G. W. Fitch. 1870 to 1872; 
Samuel Meredith, 1872 to 1873; A. 
F. Bailey, 1873 to 1876; J. E. Bowen, 
1876 to 1879; George Skene, 1879 to 
1882; B.B. Loomis, 1882 to 1885; P. 
L. Dow, 1885 to present time. 



212 



Vail Avenue Church, west side Moelling, D. D., 1873 to 1876 ; F. S. 
of Vail Avenue, between Douw Street Gratz, 1876 to 1879; Julius Seidel, 
and Glen Avenue. A number of 1879 to 1882; John G. Lutz, 1882 to 
Methodists statedly worshiping in 1885; W. H. Kurlh, 1885 to present 
the school-house, in the tenth ward of time, 
the city, elected on March 15, 1852, 



Titus Eddy, Oliver Boutwell, George 
Smith, Samuel G. Sargeant, E. R. 
Swasey, and Sylvester Cooper trus- 
tees of the organization which the 
members named the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church in Noith Troy. On 
May 15, 1854 the name was changed 
to that of the North Troy M. E. 
Church. In 185S, tiie erection of the 
present house of worship was begun. 
On December 10, that year, it was 
dedicated. In 1867, the church was 
called Vail Avenue Church. 

Pastors: Reuben Gregg, 1S55 to 
1856; Homer Eaton, 1857 to 1858; 
C. Morgan, 1858 to 1859; A. Viele, 
1859 to 1861; Seymour Coleman, 1861 
to 1S63; R. R. Meredith, 1864 to 
1865; Myron White, 1S65 to 1866; M. 
Hulburd, 1866 to 1S68; E. Stover, 
1868 to 1869; G. W. Fitch, i86gto 
1870; J. W. Tucker, 1870 to 1871; D. 
T. Elliott, 1S71 to 1872; C. F". Noble, 
1S72 to 1875: William J. Tilley, 1875 
to 1878; J. K. Wager, 1878 to 1881; 
J. G Fallon, 1881 to 1884; S M. 
Williams, 1884 to the present time. 

First German Church is on the 
north side of State Street, be- 
tween Fifth and Sixth streets. The 
church originated in a mission es- 
tablished in 1856 in the Wesleyan 
Methodist Church, at the intersection 
of Ferry and Congress streets. On 
July 25, 1857, the congregation was 
organized. The present church was 
erected in 1863. 

Pastors: F. W. Dinger 1857 to 
1859; John Swahlen, i860 to 1861; 
George Abele, 1861 to 1862; Julius 
Seidel, 18O2 to 1864; J. C. Deininger, 
1864 to 1867; G. Mayer, 1S67 to 1S69; 

Julius Seidel, 1869 to 1870; Joseph other artistic stonework, southeast 
Kindler, 1870 to 1873; Peter A. corner of North Second and Federal 



ZiON Church is on the east side 
of Seventh Street, between Broadway 
and State Street. On the brown- 
stone tablet in the front wall of the 
building is inscribed: "A. M. E. Zion 
Church, organized A. D. 1 832. 
Erected A. D. 1865." In 1841, the 
congregation purchased a lot on which 
was a building which was fitted for a 
house of worship. On February 23. 
1842, a meeting was held in the 
church on Fifth Street, near Liberty 
Street, and William Meads, Jacob 
Brown, Lewis Butler, Littleton 
Becket, Lewis Jones were elected 
trustees of "the Wesleyan M. E. 
Zion Church of the city ot Troy." By 
this title the church was incorporated 
at that time. 

Pastors: R. Noyes, 1848 to 1849; 
John A. Williams, 1857 to 1858; 
Jacob Thomas, 1S64 to 1868; William 
H. Decker, 186910 1872; J. G. Smith, 
1872 to 1874; Joseph P. Thompson, 
1874 to 1877: James H. Anderson, 
1877 to 1879; William H. Decker, 
1879 to 1882; T. O. R. Williams, 
1882 to 1885: Samuel C. Burchmore, 
1885 to present time. 

Military Organizations.— 

(See Fourth Battery, Tibijits' Ca- 
dets, TiBiiiTs' Sons of Veterans, 
TiBBiTs' Veteran Corps, and Troy 
Citizens' Corps.) 

Monuments, Marble and 
Granite.— 

Peter Grant, manufacturer of 
mortuary marble and granite monu- 
ments, tombstones, mural tablets, 
plain and ornamental mantels, and 



213 



streets. In 1859, he engaged in the 
business in Troy, and in April, 1867, 
began the erecion of the three-story, 
brick building in which his steam 
marble- works are located. Redesigns 
and elaborates all kinds of marble 
and granite work, modern and classic, 
for moituary chapels, sarcophagi, and 
tombs, and manufactures in different 
patterns mantels, grates, open fire- 
places, and tiled hearlhs. His stock 
of Minton and American glazed tiles 
is laige and varied. Buyers have the 
opportunity of making judicious se- 
lections from the attractive display in 
his salesroom. 

Bf.nnett Perry, steam polishing 
granite and marble monumental 
works, east side of River Street, be- 
tween Jay and Rensselaer streets. 

William H. Young, granite and 
maible works, northwest corner of 
Third and Liberty streets. 

Mount Ida, a bold and partly 
precipitous hill, between Congress 
and tlill streets, has a maximum 
height of about 240 feet above tide 
water. Captain Frederick Marryal, 
C. B., the English naval officer and 
novelist, in July, 1S37. visited Troy, 
and thus wiote of his visit to the com- 
manding eminence. "Troy like a 
modern academy, is classical, as well 
as commercial, having Mount Olym- 
pus on one side and Mount Ida in its 
rear. The panorama from the sum- 
mit of the latter is splendid. * * * 
I remained two hours perched upon 
the top of the mountain. I should 
not have staid so long, perhaps, had 
they not brought me a basket of 
cherries, so that I could gratify more 
senses than one. I felt becomingly 
classical whilst sitting on the precise 
birthplace of Jupiter, attended by 
Pomona, with Troy at my feet, and 
Mount Olympus in the distance." 
(See Landslides.) 



Mount Olympus, between 
Rensselaer and North, River and 
North Third streets, has an elevation 
of about 100 feet above tide water, 
It is formed of sessile argillite rock 
of the glazed slate variety. It contains 
carburet of iron, iron pyrites and a 
curiously striated variety of quartz be- 
tween the natural cleavages. Small 
quantities of anthracite coal have been 
found in it. In the summer of 1823, 
W. D. Van der Heyden erected an 
octagonal building on the eminence, 
where during the warm weather 
cooling cordials and other beverages 
were sold. The building was burn- 
ed on the night of February 13, 
1830. 

Mowing Machine Company, 
Limited, Troy, manufactures at its 
works, on Center Island, the Trojan 
Mower, which has in recent years ob- 
tained, by direct competition with 
other machines of its kind, a marked 
popularity among farmers in different 
parts of the United States. The sim- 
plicity of the construction of the Tro- 
jan Mower, and the uncomplicated 
action of its machinery commend it 
above all other inventions for rapidly 
cutting grasses on flat, hilly, and 
rough land. Strong in every part, 
free in movement, and of light draft, 
it permanently sustains the high favor 
of those who after using it unquali- 
fiedly affirm that it is "the strongest, 
simplest, handiest , and best mower 
made." The company also entensive- 
ly manufactures other agricultural ma- 
chinery and implements, mill-gearing, 
castings, engines, and boilers. The 
company was incorporated March 11, 
1884. Its officers are Nelson Daven- 
port, president; Henry Galusha, vice- 
president, and William Kemp, jr., 
secretary, treasurer, and general man- 
ager. 



214 




/A jl «i r- 




Music Hall, in the Trov Savings 
Bank Building, on the northeast cor- 
ner of Second and State streets, is one 
of the most elegantly finished and ad- 



mirably planned halls in the United 
States. It is no feet in length, 75 in 
width, and 60 in height, with 1,250 
seats. The stage is 31 feet deep and 55 
wide. The frescoes are highly artistic 
and the general appointments decorous. 
From the beautiful ceiling hangs a 
magnificent chandelier with 260 gas 
burners and 10,000 crystal pendants. 
The corridors are spacious and acces- 
sible from all parts of the hall. It 
was dedicated on Monday night, April 
19, 1875, by Theodore Thomas, with 
orchestral and vocal music. 



Mutual Aid, Empire Order 
of- 

Griswold Lodge, No. 18, meets 
every fourth Monday evening of each 
month in Temple of Honor Hall, No. 
273 River Street. 

Troy Lodge, No. 128, meets every 
second Monday evening in Temple 
of Honor Hall, 

Nassau, a town of Rensselaer 
County, was erected by the name of 
Philipstown, March 2r, 1S06. The 
name was changed to that of Nassau, 
April 6, 1808. The village of Nassau, 
in the southwestern part of the town, 
was incorporated, March 12, i8iq. It 
has about 500 inhabitant?. In it are 
four churches, two hotels, and about 
one hundred dwellings. East Nassau, 
in the southeastern part of the town, 
contains three churches, several 
taverns and stores, and about sixty 
dwellings. North Nassau, Hoag's 
Corners, Brainard, Alps, Dunham 
Hollow, and Miller's Corners are 
small places in the town. 

Population of the town: 1810, 
2,501; 1815, 2,748; 1820, 2,873; 1S25, 
2,935; 1830, 3.255; 1S35, 3,227; 1S40, 
3,236; 1845, 3,104; 1850, 3,261; 1855. 
3,000; i860, 3,039; 1865, 2,894; 1870, 
2,705; 1875, 2,660: 1880, 2,629. 




orchestra 

Parquet 








DIAGRAM OF MUSIC HALL. 



316 



National Guard, State of 

New York. — Armory southeast 
corner of Ferry and River streets. 
The Sixth Separate Company, (Troy 
Citizens' Corps), Twenty-First Separ- 
ate Company, (Tibbits' Cadets), 
Twelfth Separate Company, (Tibbits' 
Sons of Veterans), are a part of the 
fifth brigade of the third division; 
Brigadier-General Robert Shaw 
Oliver, commanding brigade; head 
quarters, Albany. The Fourth Battery, 
( rroy City Artillery), is attached to 
the third division. Major-General 
Joseph B. Carr, commanding third 
division; headquarters, Troy. 

Newspapers, Lansing- 
burgh. — The first newspapers pub- 
lished in Rensselaer Countv were 
printed in Lansingburgh. The given 
dates are those of the day and year on 
which ihe papers were first issued. 

The Northern Centinel and 
Lansingburgh Advertiser, weekly, 
Monday, May 21, 1787. Discon- 
tinued in 17S8. 

The Federal IIeuald. weekly, 
Monday, May 5, 1788. Discontinued 
in 1790. 

American Spy, weekly, Friday, 
April 8, 1791. Discontinued in 1797. 

Northern Budget, weekly, 
Tuesday, June 20, 1797. Office re- 
moved to Troy in May, 1798. 

Lansingburgh Gazette, weekly, 
September 12, 1798. Changed to 

The Rensselaer County Ga- 
zette, weekly, Tuesday, May 2, 
1826.^ Subsequently changed to the 

Lansingburgh Democrat and 
Rensselaer County Gazette. 

Lansingburgh Gazette, weekly, 
new series, December, 1826. Discon- 
tinued in 188"?. 



The Farmers' Register, Tues- 
day, January 25, 1803. Removed to 
Troy in 1806. 

The Democratic Press and 
Lansingburgh Advertiser, weekly, 
January 13, 1838. Subsequently 
changed to 

Lansingburgh Democrat. Sub- 
sequently changed to 

New Advertiser. Discontinued, 
July 12, 1861. 

The Literary Cabinet, Novem- 
ber, 1841. 

The Golden Rule, a monthly, 
January i, 1844. Subsequently 
changed to 

Young Ladies' Messenger in 

1847. 

The Antiquarian and General 
Review, a monthly, March. 1847. 
Discontinued in 1848. 

The Lansinghurgh Daily Ga- 
zette, Tuesday, January 3. i860. 
Discontinued February 11, i860. 

Semi-Weekly Chronicle, Wed- 
nesdays and Saturdays. April 6, 1864. 
Subsequently changed to the 

Lansingburgh Chronicle and 
Family Guide, weekly, July 4, 1866. 
Subsequently called the 

Weekly Chronicle and Watch- 
man. 

Our Little Paper, weekly, Fri- 
day, September 13, 1872. Discon- 
tinued December, 1873. • 

The Lansingburgh Courier, 
weekly, Friday, December 24, 1875. 
The paper is still published. 

Newspapers, Troy.— The re- 
markable ignorance existing until a 
number of years ago respecting the 
publication of the first newspaper in 



21-; 



Troy exemplifies the fact that so im- 
portant an event can be " to past for- 
getfulness a prey," as well as one of 
minor interest. Not until 1880, when 
the well-preserved copy of 

The Recorder, number 208, vol- 
ume iv, "printed by George Gardner, 
near the court-house," on Tuesday, 
August l3, 1795, now inclosed in glass 
in the Troy Young Men's Association 
library, did the oldest inhabitant know 
anything respecting its publication. 
Tradition's tongue was silent concern- 
ing it, nor was there any mention 
m?.de of it in Troy's later published 
newspapers. Whether or not the 
tiist number of the paper was pub- 
li!>lied in Troy in lygi is undeter- 
mined. The pages of the Recorder 
are 11^ by iS inches; each being di- 
vided mto four columns. In an ad- 
vertisement headed " Proposal for 
printing by subscription, in one vol- 
ume, tlie Ladies' Friend," the editor 
requests that the subscription paper 
be returned him by the middle of 
September. In the " marine lit kept 
by Howard Mou'ton. at the city cof- 
fee house, Troy," the arrival of the 
following river craft is noticed : Sloop 
Success, Capt. Benjamin, Troy ; sloop 
Commerce, Capt. McCoun, Troy ; 
sloop Emila, Capt. Wilson, Troy; 

sloop , Capt. Hudson, Troy; sloop 

Sally, Capt. Baker, Troy. The ed- 
itor remarks : " A number has sailed 
for New York loaded with wheat, 
which will fetch nine or ten instead of 
16 or 17 shillings per bushel, which 
shows that somebody han't work'd it 
right." Among the advertisements 
are those of Elhanan Martin & Co., 
dry goods and groceries ; John Wel- 
ler & Co., grocers ; Cornelius Adri- 
ance & Son, hatters ; Philip Heartt, 
saddlery, harness, sealskin, leather 
and oil cloth trunks ; and Josiah 
Greenman, baker. 

Farmer's Oracle, Luther Pratt & 
Co., Tuesday, January 31, 1797, Water 
29 



Street, opposite the ferry. A copy of 
this paper was found by the writer in 
1875, in the garret of the Troy Young 
Men's Association Building, wrapped 
in a piece of brown paper. By the 
gift of E. Thompson Gale, a glass 
case incloses this valuable memento 
of the past. It bears date of April 
10, 1798, and is number ii of vol- 
ume ii ; whole number 63. 

Northern Budget, first published 
at Lansingburgh, on Tuesday, June 
20, 1797, by Robert Moffit & Co. On 
Tuesday, May 15, 1798, its publica- 
tion began in Troy, " on the east side 
of Water-Street, four doors north of 
Peirce's Inn." The paper had then 
" an extensive circulation in the state 
of Vermont, and in the counties of 
Rensselaer, Saratoga, Washington, 
and Clinton." On January 3, 1826, 
its name was changed to Tlie Troy 
Budget and City Register; on Janu- 
ary I, 1S28, to The Troy Budget; 
on July 6, 1840, to the Daily Troy 
Budget; on July 7, 1845, to the North- 
ern Budget; on January 3, 1859, to 
The Troy Daily Budget; on July 29, 
1S61, \.o the. Daily Budget and ITnioii,; 
and on October 14, i86r, to the Troy 
Daily Budget. Its publication was 
discontinued in 1862. 

Troy Gazette, September 3, 1802. 
Discontinued about 1809. 

Farmers' Register, Lansingburgh, 
Tuesday, January 25, 1803. Troy, 
1806. 

Troy Post, September 12, 1812. 

Troy Sentinel, July 15, 1823. 

Troy Daily Sentinel, May i, 
1830. The first daily newspaper pub- 
lished in Troy. 

The Fowler, April, 1824. 

Evangelical Restorationist, 
1825. 



218 



Troy Review, or Religious and 
Musical Repository, January 4, 
1826. 

The Reflector, March 25, 1S26. 

Evangelical Repository, 1S28. 

Troy Republican, 182S. Anti- 
Masonic. 

Northern Watchman, 1831 ; 
Troy Watchman, 1832. 

The Gospel Anchor, 1831. 

The Troy Statesman, June 12, 
1832. 

The Troy Press, weekly, August 
4. 1832. 

The Troy Daily Press, suc- 
ceeding the Troy Daily Sentinel, Feb- 
ruary II, 1833. 

Troy American, September 18, 
1833. 
The Botanic Advocate, 1S34. 

The Troy Daily Whig, Tuesday 
evening, July i, 1834. It succeeded 
the Troy Dally Press and the Troy 
American. The Weekly Whig was 
regularly issued. Became Tlie Morn- 
ing Telegram, May 26, 1882. 

The Trojan, a penny daily, De- 
cember 23, 1834. 

The State Journal, 1836 ; Neic 
York State Journal, 1837. 

Troy Daily Mail, November 15, 
1837. 

Troy Daily Bulletin, December 
6, 1841. 

Troy Daily Herald, October 24, 
1842. 
The Aquarian, 1843. 

The Troy Temperance Mirror, 
1843. 

The Troy Daily Post, a penny 
paper, October i, 1843. Rensselaer 
County Post, 1846. 



The Family Journal, 1844; The 
New York Family Journal, 1848; The 
Troy Family Journal, 1851. 

The Trojan, weekly, 1845. 

The Troy Daily Telegraph, 
1846. 

The Rensselaer County Tem- 
perance Advocate, 1846. 

The Troy Commercial Adver- 
tiser, March 28, 1S48. 

The Old Settler, monthly, Jan- 
uary 16, 185 1. 

The Unique, semi-monthly, June 
12, 1851. 

The Troy Daily Times began 
its long period of publication on 
Wednesday afternoon, June 25. 1S51. 
The office was at No. 5 Cannon 
Place. John M. Francis and R. D. 
Thompson were the proprietors. 
Single copies of the paper were sold 
at two cents. There was no late tele- 
graphic news in the first day's issue. 
A half column of dispatches "by the 
Morse line'' was published in the 
second number. Those in ihe third 
number were received "by the 
O'Rielly line." On and after January 
8, 1853, the paper was published, 
upstairs, in the building on the south- 
east corner of Second and Albany 
(Broadway) streets; on and after No- 
vember 2, 1853, upstairs, in the build- 
ing, Nos. 221 and 223 River Street; 
on and after May 10, 1854, in the 
building No. 208 River Street; on and 
after April 26, 1862, in the building 
No. 211 River Street; and on and 
after Monday, April 29, 1872. in the 
Times Building, on the northeast cor- 
ner of Broadway and Third Street. On 
January 31, 1854, John M. Francis 
became proprietor of the paper. He 
and Henry O'R. Tucker formed 
their partnership, September 12, 
1863. On February 10, 1866, it was 
named in the paper as that of John 



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fESiENDEN LiiM BERT' ft TOWERj 

PAUL W , CROOKS, 






M. Francis & Co., and on June 5, 
1869, as that of J. M. Francis & 
Tucker. On April 5, 1S81. Henry 
O'R. Tucker withdrew from the part- 
nership. On May 2, 18S1, the firm 
of John M. Francis, Son, & Co., was 
formed by John M. Francis, Charles 
S. Francis, William E. Kisselburgh, 



and John A. Sleicher. The latter 
withdrew from it, Mav i, 18S3. 

The publication of the Troy Weekly 
Times was begun on July 17, 1S56, 

Ably edited, clearly printed, and 
largely circulated, The Troy Daily 
7'iV«^j justly deserves its wide popu- 
larity. 



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La Ruche Canadienne, 1851. 

Our Paper, January, 1853. 

The Troy Daily Democrat, Oc- 
tober 24, 1854. 

The Troy Daily Traveller, 
1S54; succeeded the Troy Daily Post. 

Troy American, 1857. 

Fisk's Family Journal, 1858. 



The Daily Arena, Oct. 18, 1859. 
Troy Daily Express, 1859. 
The Troy Morning News, April, 
i860. 

L'AiGLE Canadien, i860. 
Troy Daily Union, May 18, 1861. 
Troy City Democrat, June 28, 
1862. 



231 



The Troy Daily Prkss, the 
popular Democratic journal of recent 
years, had its first publication on 
Saturday afternoon. August 8, 1863, 
at No. 209 River Street; A". S. Pease, 
publisher. W. S. Hawley, on June 
18, 1866, became proprietor of the 
paper, which he published until 
March 2, 1867, at No, 219 River 
Street. 

The publication of the new series 
of The Troy Dailif Press was begun 
on Monday, October 28, 1867. at Nos. 
231 and 233 River Street, by William 
S. and Edwin P. Hawley under the 
name of the Hawley Brothers. Ed- 
win P. Hawley, on November 7, 
186S, again became proprietor of the 
paper. He and Jerome B. Parmen- 
ter, on November 23, 186S, formed 
llie firm of Hawley & Parmenter, and 
they continued the publication of the 
daily and weekly paper until they 
were succeeded on May 17, 1869, by 
the firm of Parmenter & Clark; Jer- 
imie B. Parmenter and Charles C. 
Clark. On the death of the latter, 
Jerome B. Parmenter, on February 
15, 1873, came into possession of the 
paper. He continued its publication 
until he and George E. Eaton, on 
April 2, 1883, became associated as 
its proprietors. On May 26, 1884, The 
Troy Press Company was incorpor- 
ated, and since that date the publica- 
tion of the paper has been under its 
control. After November 24, 1867, 
the paper was printed in the building, 
Nos. 20S and 210 River Street, and 
after May 3, 1879, at No. 225 River 
Street. 

The Weekly was first issued on 
August 8, 1863, 

The oflficers of The Troy Press 
Company are Edward Murphy, jr., 
president; John J. Cassin, vice presi- 
dent; Frank P. Harder, treasurer; and 
George E. Eaton, secretary. The 
Troy Daily Press, besides be- 
ing a prominent Democratic organ in 



the city and state, daily presents its 
numerous readers with many well- 
edited columns of telegraphic, local, 
and general news. 

Troy News, Sunday, August 21, 
1864. It was the first Sunday news- 
paper printed in Troy. 

The Saturday Evening Herald, 
1S66. 

The Troy Northern Budcet 
was first issued as a Sunday paper, 
on Sunday, March 24, 1867, under the 
name of the Northern Budget, by 
Charles L. Mac Arthur, at No. 245 
River Street. On February 2, 1S68, 
its publication was continued at No. 
233 River Street, where, on March 
8, that year, the paper was enlarged 
and entitled The Troy Northern 
Budget. On and after February 7, 
1869, it was printed at No i First 
Street; and on after June 12, 1871, at 
No. 14 Third Street; and on and after 
October 18, 1875, at No. 16 Third 
Street. On March 29, 1875, Arthur 
Mac Arthur became associated with 
his father in the publication of the 
paper, under the firm name of C. L. 
Mac Arthur & Son. The Budget com- 
mends itself to its many readers with 
a great variety of contents; interesting 
stories, select poetry, theatrical in- 
formation, local and general news, 
telegraphic intelligence, and perti- 
nent editorials. 

Sunday Herald, November 11, 
1867. 

The Public Spirit, a monthly, 
1867. 

Saturday Bulletin, 1870. 

Sunday Telegram, November, 
1870. 

Troy Volksfreund, German, 
weekly, April 13, 1872. 

L'Avenir National, weekly, 
1873. 



WHY IT IS 



LOW PRICES 



BOSTOH STORE. 

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ClOtK DCMRTMT. 



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BIISTIIV STIIIti:, 



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The Sunday Trojan, April 25, 
1875. 

The Troy Observer, issued on 
Sundays, was first published on Sun- 
day, October 15, 1876, by William V. 
Cieary, at No. 13 Second Street. In 
December, 1878, the paper was pur- 



chased by A. B. Elliott, consolidated 
with the Sunday Trojan, and issued 
under the name of the Trojan-Ob- 
server. On August 3, 1879, Michael 
F. Collins bought it and changed its 
name to that under which it was first 
printed; publishing it at Nos. 208 and 










2IO River Street, and since June 5, Freie Deutsche Presse, Decem- 

1882, at Nos. 303 and 305 River ber 30, 1876, by August Hillebrandt. 

Street. Democratic in politics, the The present office of the paper is on 

Troy Observer has in late years been the third floor of the building, No. 125 

successfully conducted] and made a Church Street, between Congress and 

popular Sunday paper. _, State streets. Issued on Saturdays. 



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The Evening^ Standard was is- 
sued for the first time on Thursday 
October 17, 1877, by the Evening 
Standard Publishing Company, occu- 
pying rooms 46 and 47 in the Hall 
Building. On and after April 29, 
1878, the paper was published in the 
building, No. 217 River Street, and 



on and after April 24, 1882, at No. 
314 River Street. The officers of the 
company are W. J. Tyner, president; 
Charles G. Sherman, secretary; and 
Cornelius Mackey, treasurer. George 
H. McNamara, business manager. 
The paper is independent in politics 
and has a large circulation. 



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Light and Life, a quarterly, was 
first issued in October, 1877, under 
the name of The Messenger, by the 
Rev. N. B. Remick, of the Ninth 
Presbyterian Church, editor and pro- 
prietor. In June, 1878, it was pub- 
lished under its present name. The 
paper is devoted to general church 
literature, and contains much inter- 
esting matter relating to the city, and 
to the church of which the editor is 
pastor. 

Saturday Journal, 1879. 
30 



Troy Morning Telegram, is a 
continued publication of the Troy 
Daily Whig, first issued on Tuesday 
evening, July i, 1834. In 1840, the 
Whig became a morning paper. As 
the Troy Momifig Whig, its last issue 
was on Saturday, August 28, 1880. 
On Monday, August 30, 1880, the 
T7vy Morjiing Telegram and Whig 
was first published by the Troy Tele- 
gram Company, in the Hall Building. 
On Monday, April 17, 18S2, the paper 
was purchased by C. L. Mac Arthur 



226 



& Son, (Arthur Mac Arthur), who con- 
tinued to publish it at No. 303 River 
Street. On Thursday, May 25, 1882, 
its name was changed to that of 
The Troy Daily Telegram. Since 
that date, C. L. Mac Arthur & Son 
have published it at No. 16 Third 
Street. It is the only morning daily 
published in Troy. It has obtained 
a marked popularity not only as a 
Republican paper but also as a well- 
conducted journal. 

Monthly Bulletin of the Rail- 
road Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion. First issued, March, 1881. 

Troy Collar, Shirt, and Laun- 
dry Journal, July, 1882, by Pratt 
& Clinton, (John P. Pratt and DeWitt 
Clinton); December, 1882, by the 
Journal Publishing Company; May, 
1883, by Clinton & Dickerman; De- 
cember 9, 1884, by L. H. Dickerman; 
office, room 19 Keenan Building. The 
Journal has obtained no little dis- 
tinction as a trade publication. 

The Polytechnic, February 16, 
1885, published monthly, but not in 
July and August. Admirably edited 
by students of the Rensselaer Poly- 
technic Institute, this college-monthly 
now takes high rank with its contem- 
poraries. 

High School Record, April 17, 
1885, by scholars of the Troy High 
School. First a semi-monthly, now a 
monthly. 

Troy News, daily, 1885. 

La Patrie, July 24, 1885, by J. 
M, Authier. Issued Fridays. Office 
No. 125 Church Street. 

Troy Sunday News, Sunday, 
August 23, 1885. 

Troy Morning Herald, October 
12, 1885. 

The Herald, daily, November 13, 
1885. 



Catholic Weekly, first issued 
February 27, 1886, by Reynolds. 
Thompson, & Co. Office on the 
second floor of the building, on the 
northwest corner of River Street and 
Broadway. The paper has a large cir- 
culation and is published on Saturdays. 

The Clarion, first published on 
May 8, 1886, by the Co-operative 
Board of Knights of Labor of District 
LXVIII. Issued on Saturdays. 
Office in Stephens' Hall, No. 134 
River Street. The paper is devoted 
to the interests of the Knights of 
Labor and explicitly expresses the 
principles of the organization. 

Saturday Observer, July 3, 1886, 
published by Michael F. Collins, at 
Nos. 303 and 305 River Street, is 
neutral in politics. 

The newspapers and periodicals 
now published in Troy are nineteen: 
The Troy Daily Times; The Troy 
Weekly Times; The Troy Daily 
Press; The Troy Weekly Press; The 
Troy Northern Bttdget, (weekly, on 
Sunday); The Troy Observer, (weekly, 
on Sunday); Evening Standard, 
(daily); The Troy Daily Telegram; 
The Troy Weekly Telegram; Freie 
Deutsche Presse, (weekly, on Satur- 
day); La Patrie, (weekly, on Friday); 
Catholic Weekly, (on Saturday); IVie 
Clarion, (weekly, on Saturday); 
Saturday Observer; Troy Collar, 
Shirt, and Laundry Journal, 
{\Qon\h\y); L.ight and Life, (quarterly); 
Monthly Bulletin; The Polytechnic, 
(monthly); and the High School 
Record, (monthly). 

Northern News Company, 
The, Nos. 12 and 14 Third Street, 
was established in Troy in the spring 
of 1872. Stephen F. Hoyt, manager 
and treasurer since 1872, wholesale 
agent of publishers of newspapers, 
periodicals, and books ; also, dealer 
in stationery. 



North Greenbush, a town in 
Rensselaer County, was erected 
February 23, 1855. Bath-on-the- 
Hudson is in the town. See (Bath- 
ON-THE-HuDSON.) Wynantskill and 
Defreestville (Blooming Grove) are 
small villages. The Forbes manor- 
house, north of Bath, was built about 
the year 1839, ^Y William P. Van 
Rensselaer. In August, 185c, the 
property was purchased by Paul S. 
Forbes of New York City for $62,500. 
Population of the town: 1855, 
1,812; i860, 2,170; 1865, 2,575; 1870, 
3,058; 1875, 3.940; 1880, 4,132- 
Odd Fellows, Independent 
Order of,— Odd Fellows' Hall, No. 
287 River Street. 

Trojan Lodge, No. 27. Char- 
tered November 11, 1839. Meets on 
Monday evenings in Odd Fellows' 
Hall. 

Rensselaer Lodge, No. 53. 
Charter granted, June I, 1841. Meets 
on Wednesday evenings in Odd Fel- 
lows' Hall. 

Rensselaer Degree Lodge, No. 
7. Organized, November 4, 1841. 
Meets on the second and fourth 
Thursday evenings of each montli in 
Odd Fellows' Hall. 

Athenian Lodge, No. 96. Char- 
tered, January 19, 1847. Meets on 
Tuesday evenings in Odd Fellows' 
Hall. 

Rhein Lodge, No. 248, (German). 
Organized, August 18, 1870. Meets 
on Wednesday evenings in Druids' 
Hall, No. 197 River Street. 

Troy Encampment, No. 3. Or- 
ganized December 25, 1839. Char- 
tered, December 6, 1841. Meets on 
the first and third Thursday evenings 
of each month in Odd Fellows' Hall. 

Canton Leo, No. 8. Patriarchs' 
Militant. Chartered, December 31, 



1885. Meets on the second and 
fourth Thursday evenings of each 
month at No. 279 River Street. 

Augusta Rebecca Degree Lodge, 
No. 36. Chartered, March 20, 1872. 
Meets on the third Wednesday 
evenings in each month in Druids' 
Hall, No. 197 River Street. 

Troy Union Rebecca Degree 
Lodge, No. 50. Chartered, February 
25, 1874. Meets on the first and 
third Friday evenings of each month 
in Odd Fellows' Hall. 

Funeral Aid Association. Or- 
ganized, June 21, 1868. Meets on 
second Monday evenings of each 
month in Odd Fellows' Hall. 

Oil, Linseed.— A. B. & L. H. 

Gibbs, manufacturers of linseed oil. 
Office, No. 377 River Street; manu- 
factory. Green Island. Firm formed, 
May I, 1865. 

Omnibus Line, Oakwood 
Avenue, runs daily from the inter- 
section of River and Congress streets 
to the upper gate of Oakwood Ceme- 
tery. 

Opera Houses.— (See Gris- 
wold Opera House, and Rand's 
Opera House.) 

Optical Goods. — Francis 

Roarke, Times Building. (See Ad- 
denda.) 

Orangemen, — Orange Hall, 

No. 9 First Street. 

The Troy True Blue Loyal 
Orange Lodge, No. 31. Organized, 
October 17, 1871. Meets on the 
second Monday evenings of each 
month in Orange Hall. 

Mount Horeb District, L. O. 
L., No. II. Organized, June 15, 



S28 



1 8 73' Meets quarterly in January, 
April, July, and October, in Orange 
Hall. 

George Washington, L. O. L., 
No. 6i. Organized, June 12, 1873. 
Meets on the first Monday evenings of 
each month in Orange Hall. 

Abraham Lincoln. L. O. L., No. 
I2g. Organized, February 24, 1876. 
Meets on the third Monday evening 
of each month in Orange Hall. 



Pafraets Dael, a Dutch name, fig- 
uratively meaning a lazy man's para- 
dise. Officers: C. W. Tillinghast, 
2d, president; E. Courtland Gale, vice- 
president; A. W. Harrington, jr., 
treasurer; E. S. Van Zile, secretary; 
J. H. Harrington, Willard F. Gay, 
Francis N. Mann, S. Alexander Orr, 
G. B. Pattison, and William C. 
Buell, managers. 

Club room on the second floor of 
the building. No. 270 River Street. 




WM. CONNOR'S PAINT WORKS. 



Golgotha Royal Black Pre- 
CEPTORY, No. 9. Organized, August 
30, 1878. Meets on the fourth Monday 
evening of each month in Orange 
Hall. 

The Orange Funeral Aid Asso- 
ciation meets quarterly in Orange 
Hall. 

Pafraets Dael Club.— Incor- 
porated, January 9, 1886. The 
club takes its name from the 
geographical designation of that 
part of Rensselaerswyck which 
mcluded the site of Troy in 1631. 



Paints.— 

William Connors, manufacturer 
of American Seal white lead and 
ready-mixed paints, Nos. 171 and 173 
Hill Street, and Nos. 135 and 137 Ida 
Street. The use of paint is common 
to all peoples. Its manufacture is 
accomplished by innumerable pro- 
cesses, simple and complex. The 
paints for the preservation of wood, 
tin, iron, and other material are mostly 
made by machinery and require care- 
ful superintendence to perfect the 
durability of their color and adhesive- 
ness. This important branch of the 



229 



business -has become a prominent in- 
dustry of the city. The paint and 
color works of William Connors, on 
the south side of Hill Street, were 
erected in 187S. The frontage of the 
main brick building is fifiy-hve feet 
with a side depth, including the wing, 
of one hundred and eighteen feet. 
The American Seal, a ready-mixed 
paint, sustains its high reputation 
wherever it has been used. It is a 
linseed oil paint, durable and elastic, 
prepared for immediate use and is 
easily applied. It is sold in quantities, 
from a pint to a barrel, of any desired 
color. It is an excellent dressing for 
all kinds of iron, tin, stone, brick, 
plaster, and wood work. This popu- 
lar paint is tightly sealed in tin cans 
from which it may readily be applied 
to surfaces exposed to the injurious 
effects of air and water. The experi- 
ence of the enterprising proprietor of 
the Troy paint and color works, Wil- 
liam Connors, as a manufacturer of 
paint, covers a period of more than a 
>core of years. He is also a dealer in 
English and American white lead, dry 
or in oil. 



Paper-Box Manufacturers— 

Hughes & Simpson, manufacturers 
of all kinds of paper-boxes, north- 
west corner of River and Hoosick 
streets. George Hughes engaged in 
the business in Troy, in December, 
1872, ..t No. 7 Bridge Avenue. In 
1874, he and E. W. Simpson entered 
into partnership, under the name of 
Hughes & Simpson, at Nos. 5 and 7 
Union Building, Sixth Street. In 
1878. they occupied a part of the 
building, Nos. g and ii Sixth street, 
whence they moved on May i, 1885, 
to their present manufactory, which 
they had purchased of Phillips & 
Clark, stove manufacturers. The 
firm not only extensively makes paper- 
boxes for collar, cuff and shirt manu- 



facturers, but also for druggists, jew- 
elers, milliners, and other tradesmen. 

Paper- Company, Troy, No. 

373 River Street. (See Addenda.) 

Paper-Hangings.— (See Wall- 
paper.) 

Paper-Manufacturers. — The 

first mill in Northern New York in 
which paper was made was erected 
on the Poesten Kill, in 1792. It was 
built by Mahlon Taylor, "near his 
dwelling-house," and was supplied 
with water by the same flume as his 
sawmill and new grist-mill. On De- 
cember 2g, that year, Charles R. and 
George Webster, printers in Albany, 
Ashbel Seymour and Perely Ensign, 
paper-makers, of the city of Hart- 
ford, Conn., purchased the property 
for £400. To supply the mill with 
rags, they appealed in the newspapers 
to the people of the village and the 
adjoining country, to save rags for 
which they would pay at the mill 
three pence per pound for white, blue 
brown and check rags, and a propor- 
tionate price for other kinds. About 
the beginning of the century, a sec- 
ond paper-mill was built on the Wy- 
nants Kill, immediately east of the 
House of Industry, where now is the 
Gold Leaf Paper-Mill, on Campbell's 
Highway. 

Orrs & Co., wall, book, and print- 
ing paper-manufacturers, No. 699 
River Street. The senior proprietor 
of the large mills, near the state dam, 
William Orr, in 1826, entered the em- 
ploy of William T. Smith, furniture 
manufacturer, on the northeast corner 
of River and State streets. Some 
years afterward, the latter formed a 
partnership with Joseph Howland, 
and they were for a time proprietors 
of the paper-mill on the Wynants 



230 



Kill, near the House of Industry. 
William Orr, with his brother, Alex- 
ander, in 1837, under the firm name 
of A. & W. Orr, engaged in the 
printing of paper-hangings or wall- 
paper, at No. 76 Congress Street. In 
1839, they continued the business at 
No. 265 River street. The first ma- 
chinery ever used to print paper by 
cylinders, on which the designs or pat- 
terns for paper hangings were engrav- 
ed or disposed, William Orr claims was 



thousand rolls of wallpaper, each 
nine yards in length, in three colors. 
Previous to the construction of the in- 
genious invention, not more than one 
hundred rolls, in one color, from de- 
signs on flat blocks, could be printed 
in a day, by the same number of per- 
sons attending the invaluable machine. 
It substituted the labor of thirty men. 
Unpatented by the inventor, the cyl- 
inder press was subsequently improv- 
ed by different persons, who at once 




M fi 









i i 




ORRS & CO S PAPER MILLS. 



invented and constructed by him in 
this city. Three pattern-bearing cyl- 
inders, six inches in diameter, hori- 
zontally revolved at equal distances 
against another horizontal revolving 
cylinder, thirty-six inches in diame- 
ter, carrying the paper receiving the 
impressions. The different decorative 
liquids were spread over the patterns 
by rollers taking the colors from shal- 
low basins. The press printed, dur- 
ing the working hours of a day, a 



protected their improvements by pat- 
ents. All the world-renowned, cylin- 
drical printing presses of recent years 
represent, in part, the original features 
of the mechanism of the paper-hang- 
ing pattern press used by William 
Orr, nearly a half century ago. He 
also claims that he was the first paper- 
maker in the United States to manu- 
facture merchantable printing paper 
with wood fiber in it. In 1854, at the 
Troy Paper Mill, he made paper. 



231 



in the composition of which there were 
one-fourth bass-wood fiber, and three- 
fourths rags. He also claims to have 
invented ami used the wood heads, 
with tube and rod, to protect paper 
when transported in rolls. In 1847, 
William O. Cunningham became a 
member of the firm, which then took 
the name of A. & W. Orr & Co. In 
1854, the Troy Paper Mill, at the 
state dam, was erected by the firm. 
In 1859, the firm vacated No. 265 
River Street, and located its office in 
the paper-mill. In 1868, Alexander 
M. Orr was admitted a member of the 
firm. On December 24, that year, 
Alexander Orr died. In 1869, the 
other partners formed the firm of Orrs 
& Co. Frederick W. Orr became a 
member of it in 1870. S. Alexander 
Orr, son of William Orr, was admitt- 
ed a partner, February i, 1885. The 
buildings embrace the Troy Paper- 
Mill, the Mount Vernon Mill, the 
Boiler House, and a range of storage 
houses ; the first three fronting on the 
hydraulic canal. The New York city 
office is at No. 132 Nassau street. 

R. T. Smart, manufacturer of straw 
wrapping-paper, Tioy City and Gold 
Leaf Paper-Mills, Campbell's High- 
way, near Rensselaer County Alms 
House. The site of the Gold Leaf 
Paper-Mill was early in the century 
occupied by a mill in which paper 
was made. It was once the property of 
David Buel, afterward that of Joseph T. 
and Thomas Ilowland. On April 29, 
1853, Joseph vSmart, of South Hemp- 
stead, Queen's County, the father of 
R. T. Smart, leased it for five years, 
and manufactured paper there. On 
August T, 1858, Joseph W. and An- 
drew J. Smart purchased the paper- 
mill property. The flour-mill of 
Jonathan Richardson, on the site 
of the Troy City Paper-Mill, was 
purchased by R. T. Smart, Decem- 
ber 2, 1858, who also bought the 
Gold Leaf Mill property, Febru- 



ary 23, 1875. From 1S68 to 1873, 
D. D. Tompkins owned the Troy 
City Paper-Mill property, which, 
in 1873, R. T. Smart purchased. The 
latter, now the proprietor of the two 
paper-mills on the Wynants Kill, ex- 
tensively manufactures an excellent 
quality of straw wrapping-paper. 

Manning & Peckham (John A. 
Manning and Reuben Peckham), ma- 
nilla paper-makers, Mount Ida Mills, 
foot of Cypress Street, near Ida Falls. 
The senior member of the firm, 
Reuben Peckham, in 1836, with John 
G. Buswell, formed the firm of Bus- 
well & Peckham, stove manufacturers, 
which was dissolved in 1841. On his 
return from New York City, he pur- 
chased, April I, 1850, the interest of 
Alvin Williams, a member of the firm 
of Manning & Howland, (William H. 
Manning, Gardner Howland, and 
Alvin Williams,) which, in 1846, 
erected the Mount Ida Mill, and there 
began the manufacture of manilla 
paper. On Reuben Peckham's ad- 
mission to the firm, it took the name 
of Manning, Peckham. & Howland. 
On the death of William H. Man- 
ning, in 1855, ^he business was con- 
ducted under the same name until the 
firm's dissolution, in 1857. Since 
April I, 1857, the business has been 
conducted by Manning & Peckham. 

Manning & Paine, (John A. Man- 
ning and E. Warren Paine), manilla 
paper manufacturers, Olympus Mills, 
No. 661 River Street. Firm formed 
in 1866. 

John A. Manning, manilla paper 
manufacturer, Chrystal Palace Mill, 
No. 663 River Street. He occupied 
the mill in 1883. 

Parks.— 

Seminary Park, comprising lots 
116, 117, and 118, bounded, as then 
delineated on a map of Troy, by 



233 



Second and Congress streets, on the 
west by an alley and south by lot 115, 
was conveyed by Jacob D. Van der 
Heyden to the trustees of the village 
of Troy, May 10, 1796, "for the use of 
a public square and also for the pur- 
pose of erecting a public school-house 
or academy, if it shall at any time be 
judged proper by the inhabitants of 
said village." In 1802, the village 
trustees expended $300 on the plat in 
leveling, fencing, planting trees, and 
making walks. On July 18, 1S34, 
the trustees of the First Presbyterian 
Church conveyed to the city two lots, 
87 and 88, and a part of lot 86, at the 
west end of the plat, "10 be kept open 
and unoccupied by any building," 
and to 'be enclosed as a public park." 
(See First Presbyterian Church.) 

Washington Park, between Sec- 
ond, Third, and Washington streets, 
and Washington Place, was set apart, 
March 30, 1840, and called Washing- 
ton Park," devoted to the purpose of 
a private, ornamental park for the use 
and recreation of the owners of lots 
fronting upon the said park." 

Beman Park, a plat of about six 
acres, between Fifteenth, Seventeenth, 
and Jacob streets, and People's Avenue, 
was given to the city by John Sherry 
and Sarah L., his wife, on October i, 
1878, for a public park. From the 
fountain space, the highest elevation 
of the plat, there is an extensive pros- 
pect of the city and the surrounding 
landscape. 

Patents. — 

George A. Mosher, solicitor of 
American and foreign patents, and 
counsellor in patent causes, No. 17 
First Street. In recent years, the pro- 
tection of inventions by patents has 
been accomplished, not so much for 
speculative purposes as for the pro- 
jection of new businesses and the en- 



largement of older industries by law- 
ful methods of competition, sustained 
by peculiar machinery and different 
processes of manufacture. Troy, as a 
noted center of manufacture, yearly 
originates a large number of valuable 
inventions to be used in her mills, 
factories, and workshops for a cheaper 
production of the goods and articles 
augmenting her industrial fame. To 
secure a patent, it is necessary to em- 
ploy a well-informed solicitor to pre- 
pare accurate specifications and to 
direct the delineation of proper draw- 
ings. From two weeks to six months 
time is needed to obtain a patent. 
George A. Mosher, since 1882, has 
wholly devoted his attention in se- 
curing patents for the large number 
of inventors employing him. 

Petersburgh, a town in Rens- 
selaer County, was erected, March 18, 
1791, The village of North Peters- 
burgh is about twenty-seven miles 
east of Troy. It is a station on the 
Boston, Hoosac Tunnel & Western, 
Lebanon Springs, and Troy & Bos- 
ton railroads. Population is about 
300. A church, two taverns, and 
a store are in the place. South 
Petersburgh contains three churches, 
several hotels, and six stores, and a 
number of manufactories. Popula- 
tion about 300. Stillman village is 
west of South Petersburgh. 

Population of the town: 18 10, 
2,039; 1S15, 1,761; 1820, 2,248; 1825, 
2,088; 1830, 2,on; 1835, 1,950; 1840, 
1,901; 1S45, 1,876; 1850, 1,908; 1855, 
1,663; i860, 1,698; 1865, 1,670; 1870, 
1,732; 1875, 1,718; 1880, 1,785. 

Photographers.— 

Hardy & Van Arnam, (George R. 
Hardy and John M. Van Arnam), 
photographers, No. 390 River Street, 
between Bridge Avenue and Jacob 
Street. 



233 



James Irving, photographer, No. 
13 Second Street, engaged in the busi- 
ness in 1S44. 

James Lloyd, photographer, No. 
44 Third Street. (See Addenda.) 

Zeph. F. Magill, photographer, 
Keenan Building, northwest corner 
of Broadway and Third Street. 

James D. Schroder, photographer, 
Nos. 306 and 308 River Street, east 
side, between Fulton and Grand 
Division streets. 

Pianos and Organs.— It is 

likely that Joshua Thurston, from 
London., Eng., who began manufac- 
turing pianos in Troy in 1819, was the 
first person to engage in the business 
in the state of New York. In May, 
that year, he informed the citizens of 
Troy and Albany that he had " on 
hand a grand, three-stringed, cabinet 
piano forte," which he should offer 
for sale as soon as finished. In July 
following, he advertised a "grand 
cabinet piano forte, with drum ac- 
companiment," for sale, at Union 
Hall. " The amateurs of music and 
friends of home manufacture," he 
announced, " are respectfully invited 
to call and inspect his six octave, 
grand cabinet piano forte, which he 
assures them is equal to the best that 
has been imported, in touch, tone, ap- 
pearance, and for strength and stand- 
ing in tune superior to all." 

Cluett & Sons, dealers in pianos, 
organs, and music, No. 265 River 
Street. This well-known music house 
was founded in 1854 by William Clu- 
ett, the senior member of the firm. 
On the association of his son, J. W. 
A. Cluett, with him in the business, 
in 1S57, the firm took the name of 
Cluett & Son. On the withdrawal of 
J. W. A. Cluett to engage in the manu- 
facture of collars and cuffs, in 1863, 
Edmund and Frederick H. Cluett 



31 



became partners of their father, under 
the name of Cluett & Sons. N. L. 
Weatherby became a member of the 
firm in 1877. For more than a quar- 
ter of a century the Cluetts have, as 
agents, represented the excellent 
Chickering and Steinway pianos and 
the Estey Organs, and in later years, 
the popular Weber, Fischer, and Lin- 
deman pianos, and the Wilcox & 
White organs. Pianos are now deem- 
ed a necessary part of household fur- 
niture, and this long-established house 
annually sells from one to two thou- 
sand pianos and organs in Northern 
New York, Western Massachusetts, 
and in the state of Vermont. The 
branch establishments of the firm are 
at No. 49 State Street, Albany; No. 
129 Warren Street, Hudson ; Harris' 
Block, Fort Edward ; England's 
Block, Pittsfield, Mass ; and Mer- 
chant's Row, Rutland, Vt. The firm 
occupied its Temple of Music in 1875, 
where in its spacious salesrooms are 
to be found a large selection of the 
different pianos and organa so popular 
with the public. 

Pittstown, a town in Rensselaer 
County, was erected March 7, 1788, 
by the " act for dividing the counties 
of this state into towns." The town 
embraces a great part of the territory 
of the Pittstown patent, granted by 
George III., July 23, 1761. The 
tract of land was named Pittstown in 
honor of William Pitt, Earl of Chat- 
ham. Johnsonville, so named by Wil- 
liam Johnson, a miller, at the Lick, 
as its site was first called, a station on 
the Troy and Boston, the Boston, 
Hoosac Tunnel and Western, and the 
Greenwich and Johnsonvdle railroads, 
seventeen miles from Troy, had a pop- 
ulation of 397 in 1880. In it are 
three churches, two hotels, six stores, 
and an axe factory. Valley Falls, 
population, in 1880, 7S2, fourteen 
miles from Troy, is a station on the 






r'siS^^] 







CLUETT & SONS MUSIC HOUSE. 



235 



Troy and Boston, and the Boston, 
Hoosac Tunnel and Western rail- 
roads. A church, several factories, 
mills, hotels, and stores, and about 
125 dwellings are in it. Tomhannock, 
thirteen miles northeast of Troy, em- 
braces two churches, a hotel, several 
stores and mills, and about fifty other 
buildings. Raymertown, ten miles 
from Troy, contains a church, a hotel, 
several stores and mills, and about 
fifty dwellings. Boyntonville, two 
churches, two hotels, several stores, 
and about thirty-five other buildings. 
Pittstown Corners, three churches, 
three stores, and about thirty-five 
buildings. North Pittstown, a church 
and about twenty other buildings. 

East Pittstown, a church ; and Cooks- 
borough, a church. 

Population of the town: 1790, 2,447; 

1800, 3,483; 1810, 3,692; 1815, 3,708; 

1S20, 3,772; 1825, 3.746; 1830, 3,702; 

TS35, 3,919; 1840, 3,784; 1845. 3.628; 

1S50 3,732; 1S55, 3,602; i860, 3,826; 

1S65, 3,831; 1870, 4,093; 1875, 3,967; 

1880, 4,136. 

Pleasure Island, in the Hud- 
son, between Troy and Albany, was 
opened as a summer resort, on Sunday, 
July 2, 1882. Area, 21 acres. The 
boats plying between the two cities 
land passengers on the island. 

Plumbing and Gas-fitting — 

William Ferguson, plumber and 
gas-filter, Nos. 359 and 361 Fulton 
street. (See Addenda.) 

Poestenkill, a town in Rensse- 
laer County, erected March 2, 1848. 
The village of Poestenkill has about 
350 inhabitants, and contains two 
churches, three hotels, three stores, 
and about fifty other buildings. East 
Poestenkill contains two churches, a 
hotel, and several stores. Barber- 



ville and Ives' Corners are small col- 
lections of houses. 

Population: 1850, 2092; 1855. i,- 
878; i860, 1,833; 1865, 1,952; 1870, 
1,769; 1875, 1,727; 1880, 1,765. 

Police. — The police force of the 
city is under the control of four po- 
lice commissioners, elected by the 
common council, two from each of the 
two principal political parties. They 
each receive annual salaries of $1,000. 
The present police force went on duty 
March 21, 1885. It now numbers one 
superintendent, three captains, ten ser- 
geants, eighty patrolmen, six super- 
numeraries, four station-house keepers, 
two surgeons, one chief detective, and 
three subordinate detectives. The 
city is divided into three precincts, 
with a station-house in each, contain- 
ing quarters for the policemen, cells 
for prisoners, and apartments for home- 
less people. Each precinct has a 
captain of police, three sergeants, and 
a number of patrolmen. The first 
precinct station-house is on the south 
side of Adams Street, between First 
and Second streets ; the second is on 
the north side of State Street, be- 
tween Second and Third streets ; the 
third is on the east side of North Sec- 
ond Street, between Hoosick and 
Vanderheyden streets. The police 
court sits daily at 9 a. m., in the second 
precinct station house. The offices of 
the police commissioners and superin- 
tendent of police are in rooms 16 and 
17 in the city-hall. 

Population of Troy. — Erni- 
grants began to settle on the site 
of Troy in 1786. The village was 
incorporated, March 25, 1794; the 
city, April 12, 1816. The popula- 
tion of 1795 and i8co is estimated. 
That of the wards was not taken 
until 1825, 

1795. 450; 1800, 1,200; 1805, 2,- 
255; i3io, 3,395; 1815, 4,254: 1820, 



236 



5,264; i825, 7.859; 1830, ri,55i; 1835, 
16,959; 1840, 19,334; 1845, 21,709; 
1850, 28,785; 1855, 33,269; i860, 39,- 
235; 1865, 39, 293; 1870, 44.533; 1875, 
48,964; 1880, 56,747, 

Pork Packers and Provision 
Dealers. — The business of pork 
packing, and the shipment of dressed 
beef, was an important industry of 
the village of Troy in the last centu- 
ry. In 1798, nearly three thousand 
cattle were slaughtered for the mar- 
kets of New York City and elsewhere. 

Charles Warner & Co., (Ebene- 
zer Warner and Charles Smith,) pork 
packers and provision dealers, Nos. 
323 and 325 River Street. The busi- 
ness was begun by Ebenezer Warner, 
about the year 1838, on whose death, 
, in 1849, the firm of Charles Warner 
& Co., (Ebenezer and Lucius Warner), 
was formed. Lucius Warner died in 
1856. Charles Smith became a part- 
ner in August, 1867. The building 
No. 323 River Street, was first occu- 
pied by the firm in 1853, 

Albert De Freest, wholesale and 
retail dealer in pork and lard ; also, 
groceries and provisions ; northwest 
comer of Congress and Fourth streets. 
Established 1854. 

Post-ofQ.ee, first floor of the Ma- 
sonic Temple, west side of Third 
Street, between Fulton Street and 
Broadway. Before the establishment 
of a post-office in Lansingburgh, in 
1792, the inhabitants of Troy received 
letters through the Albany office. 
They were brought usually to the 
village weekly by the post-riders 
carrying newspapers to subscribers 
along the routes. When Lansing- 
burgh became a post-town, letters for 
people in Troy, were sent there and 
were obtained commonly on the ar- 
rival of the mails by some delegated 



carrier who delivered them to the per- 
sons'to whom they were addressed. 
In 1796, Nathan Williams, a law- 
student, fitting himself for admission 
to the bar, in the office of John Wood- 
worth, surrogate of Rensselaer Coun- 
ty, was appointed post-master at Troy, 
Tradition says that the first post-office 
was in John Woodworth's law office. 
While David Buel was post-master, 
the post-office was in his store, No. 
225 River Street. During the incum- 
bency of Samuel Gale, the post-office 
was in a small back room of the reno- 
vated building, No. 163 River Street, 
now the drug-house of John L. Thomp- 
son Sons, & Co., on the west side of 
River Street, between Congress and 
State Streets. When William Pierce, 
a well-known hotel-keeper and stage- 
proprietor, was made post-master, he 
located the office in the building then 
known as No. 173 River, between 
Congress and State streets, and in 
1830 moved it to the building. No. 
6 State Street, south side, on the east 
corner of the alley, between River 
and First streets. George R. Davis, 
May, 1846, moved the post-office from 
State Street to the Athena;un Build- 
ing, on the east side of First Street, 
between River and State streets. The 
recent post-master, Gilbert Robinson, 
jr., moved the office to the Masonic 
Temple, on Saturday, April 22, 1882. 
The present free delivery system was 
inaugurated in Troy in 1864, with five 
carriers. The Troy post-office de- 
livery system includes Lansingburgh 
and Green Island. 

Since the establishment of a post- 
office in Troy, eighty-nine years ago, 
nineteen persons have been post-mas- 
ters by appointment: 

Nathan Williams, 1796 to 1797; 
John Woodworth, 1797 to 1800; 
David Buel, 1800 to 1804; Ruggles 
Hubbard, 1804 to 1806; Samuel Gale, 
1806 to 1S29; William Pierce, 1829 to 
1832; Isaac McConihe, December, 



237 



1832 to 1S42; Charles H. Read, 
August, 1842 to 1843; George R. 
Davis, August, 1843 to 1S49; Thomas 
Clowes, 1849 to 1851; William T. 
Willard, 1851 to 1853; Foster Bos- 
worth, 1S53 to 1854; W. W. Whit- 
man, 185410 1S58; James R. Fonda. 
Dec. 15, 1858 to Oct. 15, 1861; George 
T. Blair, Sept. 1S61 to 1862; Thomas 
Clowes, 1862 to April 9, 1866; (J. W. 
Freeman, Thomas Clowes' bondsman, 
on the death of the latter, performed 
his duties until the appointment of 
his successor) ; Alonzo Alden, ap- 
pointed June I, 1866 to 1S74; Gilbert 
Robertson, jr., appointed February 9, 
1874, reappointed, February 18, 1878; 
reappointed April 4, 1882; term ex- 
pired, March 16, i836; Edward Dolan, 
appointed April 28, 1886, and entered 
upon his duties May 17. 

Presbyterian Churches. — 

There are twelve Presbyterian church- 
es in the city, including Westminister 
Church, within the limits of Lansing- 
burgh. 

First Presbyterian Church, 
east side of First Street, between 
Congress and Ferry streets. Previous 
to the year 1793, the people of the 
village of Troy were at first accustom- 
ed to meet on Sundays in the ball- 
chamber of Ashley's tavern, on the 
east side of River street, between 
Congress and Ferry streets, to engage 
in divine worship. The time of the 
service was announced by the prolong- 
ed blowing of a conch-shell used at 
the ferry to notify passengers of the 
crossing of the boat. The exercises, 
in the absence of a minister, were 
commonly an opening and closing 
prayer made by William Frazer, a 
pious Scotchman, afterward for many 
years the sexton of the church, two 
psalms or hymns, lined by Jacob D. 
Van der Heyden, the patroon, who 
led the singing, and a selected sermon 



read by Dr. Samuel Gale or Colonel 
Albert Pawling. The congregation, 
after its organization and previous to 
the erection of the meeting-house on 
the southeast corner of First and Con- 
gress streets, worshiped in the school- 
house on the rear of the lot, on the 
east side of the alley, nearly opposite 
the yard on the south side of the 
court-house. Desiring to organize an 
incorporated Presbyterian congrega- 
tion, a number of the persons attend- 
ing these meetings assembled "at the 
dwelling-house of Stephen Ashley," 
inn-holder, on December 31, 1791, 
and there elected, according to law, 
Jacob D. Van der Heyden, Samuel 
Gale, Ephraim Morgan, John Mc- 
Chesney, sr., Benjamin Covell, and 
Benjamin Gorton, " trustees of the 
Presbyterian Congregation of the 
town of Troy." On August 9, 1792, 
a number of persons in Lansingburgh 
"incorporated themselves into a 
Presbyterian congregation in the same 
manner, and chose the same number 
of trustees." On August 31, that 
year, the members of the two bodies, 
in the name of the united Presbyterian 
congregations of Lansingburgh and 
Troy, subscribed a call given the 
Rev. Jonas Coe, a graduate of Queen's 
College (now Rutger's), and a licen- 
ciate of the Presbytery of New York, 
to become their pastor. The trustees 
of the congregation to collect regular- 
ly the contributions of the members 
were induced, on account of the 
scarcity of small coin, to put in circula- 
tion notes of small denominations. 
Those of two pence read : " By order 
of the trustees of the Presbyterian 
Congregation of Troy, I promise to 
pay the bearer two pence, on demand. 
B. Gorton, treasurer. August 28th, 
1792." About this time, the erection 
of the wooden meeting-house on the 
east side of First street, near Con- 
gress street, was begun on a plat of 
ground belonging to Jacob l3. Van 



238 



der Heyden. For framing and weath- 
er-boarding the building, the contract- 
ors, Abel House, Robert Powers, 
Henry and John De Camp, and Ben- 
jamin Smith, were to be paid " 46 
pounds, 13 shillings, York money, in 
cash ; and 93 pounds, 7 shillings, in 
European and West Indian goods, at 
the retail prices in Troy." At a meet- 
ing of the members of the congrega- 
tion, on November 26, 1792, it was 
resolved that, 

" Whereas the inhabitants of the 
town have begun and partly complet- 
ed a church-building, but by reason 
of the almost infant settlement, and a 
variety of other public expenses, 
which must necessarily attend a newly 
settled town, they find it burdensome 
for them to carry their wishes into ef- 
fect without calling in the aid of their 
friends and fellow Christians, we 
therefore, the trustees of said congre- 
gation, * * * * hereby appoint 
Jacob D. Van der Heyden to present 
our memorial to all whom he shall 
think proper, requesting their aid and 
assistance in the completion of the 
above undertaking." 

In the spring of 1793, the flooring 
was laid, temporary staging erected, 
and boards supported by blocks for 
seats were arranged in the plainly con- 
structed building. The Rev. Jonas 
Coe, who had been preaching to the 
congregation for some time after ac- 
cepting the call, was ordained and in- 
stalled in the meeting-house, on Tues- 
day, June 25, that year, by the Pres- 
bytery of Albany. "On the occasion, 
the Rev. John McDonald presided, 
and delivered a solemn and pathetic 
discourse from the address of Paul to 
the elders of Ephesus, Acts 20 : 28. 
The Rev. Simon Hosic gave the 
charge to the newly ordained minis- 
ter, and the Rev. Aaron Condict ad- 
dressed the people. All was con- 
ducted with propriety and dignity be- 
coming the solemnity of the occasion." 



A vault was constructed under the 
church, and the remains of Dirk Van 
der Heyden and wife, the parents of 
Jacob D. Van der Heyden, were taken 
from their graves in the burial ground 
near the homestead, and deposited 
there. 

On August 8, that year, at a meet- 
ing of the congregation, Jacob D. Van 
der Heyden and 'I'imothy Hutton, sr., 
were elected elders, and Philip Heartt, 
deacon. On December 16, the same 
year, in Troy, the session of the 
united congregations of Lansing- 
burgh and Troy convened for the first 
time. It was then resolved that the 
session should alternately meet " in 
the towns of Troy and Lansingburgh." 
It was further resolved that ihe sac- 
rament of the Lord's supper should 
be administered twice annually ; "for 
the first time in the town of Troy, on 
the third Sabbath of March," 1794, 
"and in the town of Lansingburgh, 
on the third Sabbath of July follow- 
ing ; and afterward every six months 
in each town alternately." "A selec- 
tion of tunes was directed to be made 
for the use of the congregations, with 
which they were best acquainted ; 
and no others to be sung in public 
worship until it should be deemed 
necessary to make a new addition." 

On June I, 1795, Jacob D. Van der 
Heyden, in consideration of five 
shillings money of the state of New 
York received by him, conveyed six- 
teen lots to " the trustees of the Pres- 
byterian Congregation in the town of 
Troy," including the lots numbered 
8C, 87, and 88, bounded northerly by 
Congress Street, westerly by First 
Street, easterly by an alley, twenty 
feet wide, and southerly by lot 85 ; 
each lot 50 by 130 feet, " being the 
ground on which the meeting-house" 
stood. The Rev. Jonas Coe having 
accepted, in January, 1804, the call 
of the congregation in Troy to devote 
the whole of his time to it, and the 



^^|i| i." ll'fl'ili 




340 



Presbytery having dissolved the rela- 
tions existing between the united con- 
gregations, and declared liim the pas- 
tor of the former only, the Rev. 
Jonas Coe continued his ministerial 
labors in Troy until his death in 1822. 

In 1815, a subscription was circu- 
lated and $450 were collected " to pur- 
chase a suitable bell to be hung in the 
steeple " of the meeting-house, a 
white-painted structure, 60 by 40 feet. 
The sittings were the old-style box- 
pews. The elevated pulpit, overhung 
by a canopy, surmounted with the fig- 
ure of a dove, was reached by a narrow 
flight of winding, balustraded steps. 
Below and in front of it was the desk 
of the clerk, who lined the psalms 
and hymns, and led the singing. Pre- 
vious to the heating of the building by 
stoves, hot bricks and foot-stoves were 
carried to the church in severely cold 
weather to warm the feet of aged 
people and delicate women attending 
the services. Not unfrequently the 
coldness of the building compelled 
the Rev, Jonas Coe to preach in his 
great cloak, with his hands incased in 
knitted gloves. In 1803, the intro- 
duction of a stove to heat the build- 
ing caused considerable discussion, 
and some of the members withdrew 
from the congregation. Afterward 
two box-stoves made the building 
more comfortable in winter. When 
carpets were placed on the floor of 
the church for the first time no little 
dissension was created. The intro- 
duction of instrumental music was 
much opposed, and the bass viol, 
called "the devil's fiddle," in the 
choir, was looked upon with contempt 
by many of the members. 

The session-house, on the south side 
of the meeting-house, was erected in 
1819, " to be used as a house of 
prayer and such other purposes" as 
the session deemed proper. 

In 1834, the congregation desiring 
a better and larger house of worship, 



an agreement was made with the 
municipal authorilies to exchange, by 
deeds, lots 87 and 88, and a part of 
lot 86, for lots 85 and 84, next south 
of lot 86, on which to erect a church. 
On July 18, that year, the trustees 
conveyed the three lots to the city, 
with a reservation respecting lot 86, 
" so that a small part of said meeting- 
house so to be erected only shall stand 
upon said lots with a view that the 
residue of said lots may forever * * 
be kept open and unoccupied by any 
building and * * * be enclosed 
as a public park and yard in front of 
the same meeting-house." It was 
stipulated that the portico of the 
church should not extend more than 
15 feet on lot 86, and the steps not 
more than seven beyond the portico. 
A right of way was reserved by the 
trustees to and from Congress and 
also to and from First Street ; a gate 
to be on First Street, another on Con- 
gress Street and another either on 
Congress or First Street, west of the 
alley. The value of the lots obtained 
from the city was estimated at $11,000. 
The erection of the building was be- 
gun in the spring of 1835, and on 
Thursday afternoon, April 23, that 
year, the corner-stone was laid with 
appropriate services. In it was placed 
a copy of the original subscription for 
building the first meeting-house. 
Early in the summer of 1836, the 
building was finished, having a front- 
age on the park of 72 feet and a depth 
including the portico, of 107 feet. 
The church is of Doric architecture, 
hexastyle. The cost of the edifice 
was about $45,000. On Wednesday 
afternoon. May 25, that year, the 
church was dedicated ; the Rev. Ed- 
ward N. Kirk, of Albany, preaching 
the dedicatory sermon. A bell, weigh- 
ing 3,200 pounds, made by Oscar 
Hanks, was hung in the belfry beneath 
the roof of the portico. The sur- 
rounding wood-work confined the 







32 



242 



sound of the bell so much that the 
ringing of it in its location was con- 
sidered unserviceable, and the bell 
was sold some years later to a firm of 
bell-founders in the city. The first 
meeting-house, commonly called " the 
old white church," was sold at public 
auction, on Monday, June 13, 1836. 

In 1873, the interior of the second 
edifice was greatly improved. On 
one of the three mural tablets in the 
building is graven : Inscribed to the 
memory of Rev, Jonas Coe, D. D. , 
ordained first pastor of this church] 
June 25th, 1793. Died July 21st, 

1822. in the 64th year of his age, hav- 
ing discharged the duties of an affec- 
tionate shepherd 29 years. 

On another : Inscribed to the mem- 
ory of Jacob D. Vanderheyden, Esq., 
founder and father of this congrega- 
tion, and the first ruling elder in this 
church. Born in Albany, October 
28th. 1758. Died in Troy, September 
4th. 1809. 

On the third: In memory of Nathan 
Sidney Smith Beman, for forty years 
pastor of this church, from June i8th, 

1823, to June i8th, 1863. Born at 
New Lebanon, N. Y., Nov. 26, 1785. 
Died at Carbondale, 111., August Sth] 
1871, aged 86 years, 

In 1873, three beautifully figured 
memorial windows were placed above 
the middle door ; the central one the 
gift of a number of the friends of the 
Rev. N. S. S. Beman, D. D., to 
whose memory it was inscribed. The 
one on the west side of it is a memo- 
rial to the Rev. Jonas Coe, D. D.; the 
gift of his son-in-law, James Brown, 
of New York City. The east window 
was given by the congregation in 
memory of Jacob D. Van der Hey- 
den. The circular window above the 
west door is in memory of Charles P. 
Hartt, the gift of his widow. The 
one above the east door, in memory 
of Gordon B. Saxton and Fhilena F. 
Saxton, was given by their son, S. B. 
Saxton. 



Pastors : Jonas Coe, D. D., June 
25. 1793, to July 21, 1822 ; Nathan S. 
vS. Beman, D. D., LL. D.. June 18, 
1823, to June 18, 1863 ; Marvin R. 
Vincent, D. D., June 18, 1863, to 
April 17, 1873 ; George N. Webber, 
D. D., April 8, 1874, to April, 1883 ; 
Kerr C. Anderson, D. D., called De- 
cember 26, 1883, installed April, 
1884, resigned, September 28, 1885 ; 
Theophilus Parsons Sawin. called 
April 6, 1886, installed. Tune 17 
1886. •' '' 

Co-pastors: Robert R. Booth, D. 
D., November 30, 1853, to June 14, 
1857 ; Herrick Johnson, D. D., Jan- 
uary 28, i860, to October 13, 1862. 

Second Presbyterian Church, 
west side of Fifth Street, between 
Fulton and Grand Division streets. 
On February i, 1826, a number of 
persons, chiefly members of .the First 
Presbyterian Church, having deter- 
mined to form a second Presbyterian 
society in the city, and to erect a house 
of worship, and having appointed 
Jeremiah Dauchy, Stephen Eldridge, 
William D. Haight, Robert D. • Silli- 
man, Uriah Wallace, and Gideon 
Buckingham trustees, circulated a 
Subscription paper to obtain money to 
secure a site and to erect a building. 
One hundred and eight persons sub- 
scribed ,f 11,165, in sums from $5 to 
$1,000, payable to the trustees. On 
May 22, that year, the trustees pur- 
chased lots 873 and 874, on the south- 
east corner of Grand Division and 
Sixth streets, for $650. At a meeting 
held May 25, in the school-house, on 
the west side of Fourth Street, near 
the corner of Fourth and Elbow (Ful- 
ton) streets, where the organizers of 
the society had been attending divine 
services, the persons already mention- 
ed as trustees were elected such offi- 
cers of the "Second Presbyterian 
Congregation of the city of Troy," 
according to the laws of the state of 
New York, 



II 




SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 



244 



The erection of a meeting-house 
was begun in June, on the plat of 
ground on Grand Division Street. On 
Wednesday, July 12, the trustees re- 
ceived those of the First Presbyterian 
Church, at the house of Gideon Buck- 
ingham, on the east side of Fourth 
Street, adjacent the site of the Troy 
City National Bank, and with a num- 
ber of invited ministers proceeded to 
the site of the church to lay the cor- 
ner-stone. In the cavity of the stone 
was placed a cast-iron box, on the 
bottom of which the name of the firm 
of Starbuck & Gurley, iron-founders, 
was imprinted, and on the bell-metal 
cover was lettered: "Julius Hanks, 
July 12, 1826." Deposited in the box 
was a copper-plate, on which was in- 
scribed : " The corner-stone of the 
Second Presbyterian Church was laid 
July 12, 1826. Trustees, Jeremiah 
Dauchy, Stephen Eldridge, William 
D. Haight, Robert D. Silliman, 
Uriah Wallace, Gideon Buckingham. 
Nehemiah Brown, mason; John Ayres, 
carpenter." With it were copies of 
the different newspapers then pub- 
lished in the city and a number of 
American coins. After a prayer 
offered by the Rev. Ebenezer Cheever 
of Hoosick, the corner-stone was 
placed in position. The Rev. N. S. 
S. Beman of the First Presbyterian 
Church then delivered an address ; 
the exercises closing with a prayer by 
the Rev. Mr. Bascom of South Caro- 
lina. 

On March 10, 1827, when the build- 
ing was completed, a call was given 
the Rev. Mark Tucker, at Northamp- 
ton, Massachusetts, to become the 
pastor of the congregation. On Wed- 
nesday, July iS, the church was dedi- 
cated ; the Rev. Dr. Griffin, president 
of Williams College, preaching the 
sermon, and the Rev. Dr. .Chester of 
Albany and the Rev. Mr. Cheever of 
Waterford taking part in the exer- 
cises. In the building there were 



seven hundred sittings, not including 
five hundred in the gallery. On Sep- 
tember 24, fifty-five persons received 
letters of dismissal from the First 
Presbyterian Church to become mem- 
bers of the Second church. The 
Rev. Mark Tucker was installed pas- 
tor, October 31, 1827. On Saturday, 
May 10, 1862, a brand from the rail- 
road bridge over the Hudson lodged 
on the steeple of the church, which 
with more than seven hundred other 
structures in the city was consumed in 
the terrible conflagration of that well- 
remembered afternoon. Until the 
completion of the session-house, on 
the present church plat, the congrega- 
tion worshiped in Harmony Hall and 
in different churches tendered its use. 
In December the congregation began 
holding services in the session-house. 
On July 14, 1864, the corner-stone 
of the present church was laid by the 
pastor, the Rev. Daniel S. Gregory. 
The building was dedicated on the 
evening of March 30, 1865 ; the Rev. 
William H. Green, D. D., of Prince- 
ton Theological Seminary, preaching 
the dedicatory sermon. The clock 
on the church was given the congrega- 
tion by Clarence Willard, deceased, 
by a bequest of $goo. 

Pastors : Mark Tucker, D. D., Oc- 
tober 31, 1827 to May 2, 1837 ; Eras- 
tus Hopkins, September 13, 1837 to 
October 14, 1841 ; Charles Wads- 
worth, February 17, 1842 to March 4, 
1850 : Thomas P. Field, November 
14, 1850 to April 15, 1854 ; Elam 
Smalley, D. D., June 21, 1854 to his 
death, July 30, 1858 ; Joseph T. Dur- 
yea D. D., May iq, 1859 to March, 

1862 ; Daniel S. Gregory, August 8, 

1863 to December 8, 1866 ; William 
Irvin, D, D., July 11, 1867, to pres- 
ent time. 

Third Presbyterian Church is 
on the north side of Washington 
Street, Albia. A number of persons. 



S45 



which had been attending regularly 
for several months divine worship in 
the school-house in the village, assem- 
bled there on the evening of August 
i6, 1S30, and elected Jesse Tracy, 
Daniel Wight, and Andrew Finch 
trustees of the Third Presbyterian 
Church of the city of Troy. On De- 
cember 7, that year, forty eight mem- 
bers of the First Presbyterian Church 
were dismissed to form the new con- 
gregation. The session of the church 
held its first meeting at the house of 
Jesse Tracy, on December 17, that 
year ; the three elders being present, 
Jesse Tracy, Asaph Clark, and An- 
drew Finch. On August 16, 1831, 
two lots were purchased on the north 
side of Washington Street. The erec- 
tion of a wooden church was then be- 
gun. It was dedicated December 16, 
that year; the Rev. Edward N. Kirk 
of Albany preaching the dedicatory 
sermon. The building was burned 
March 24, 1853 Tlie present brick 
edifice was built that year. (See 
Mt. Ida Presbyterian Memorial 
Church.) 

Pastors: Ebenezer Seymour, 1831; 
Jacob Miller, 1859 ; R. G. Hinsdale, 
1861; J. H. Robinson, 1S63-64; W. 
W. Page, 1865 ; Charles O. Thatcher, 
1867-68; J. H. Noble, 1869-70; C. 
P. Evans, from August i, 1883, to 
present time. 

Second Street Presbyterian 
Church, east side of Second Street, 
between Congress and Ferry streets. 
At the beginning of the year 1833, a 
number of the members of the Second 
Presbyterian Church, desiring to or- 
ganize another Presbyterian society 
and to erect a house of worship in 
the immediate vicinity of their homes, 
began to take such steps as were neces- 
sary for the accomplishment of those 
objects. John T. McCoun, Samuel 
Gale, George Vail, and Abram Nash, 
on February 6, that year, purchased a 



part of lot 143, and on February 25, 
a part of lot 142, on the east side of 
Second Street, opposite the Troy Fe- 
male Seminary property, for the site 
of a church. A committee, appointed 
on February 9, to solicit subscriptions, 
soon obtained the sum of $20,325. 
On the purchased plats the erection 
of a house of worship was begun ; 
the corner-stone of which was laid 
July 2, 1833. The edifice was dedica- 
ted August 6, 1834. On September 
13, George Palmer, Matthew Lane, 
John T. McCoun, Henry Burden, 
Hanford N. Lockwood, Leroy Mow- 
ry, Alfred Slason, John Wheeler, 
and Townsend M. Vail were elected 
trustees. The society was organized 
as the Second Street Presbyterian 
Church, on the petition of sixty-nine 
members from the Second Presbyte- 
rian Church, and by the election of 
Abraham Nash, George Vail, David 
Wight, Edward Wilson, jr., elders, 
and Abraham Brower, deacon. On 
the same day, the Rev. William D. 
Snodgrass, D. D., was called to the 
pastorate of the church, and was in- 
stalled October 8. 

In 1866, the organ, presented by 
John T. McCoun and wife, gave place 
to one ihe gift of the daughters of 
Mrs. Betsey A. Hart. 

In February, 1881, the congrega- 
tion determined to renovate and en- 
large the church, and on July 18, the 
work began. The auditorium was 
refitted, the galleries were removed, a 
new pulpit was built, the organ and 
choir were placed at the north side of 
it, an attractive facade and bell-tower 
erected, the Sunday school-room was 
repainted, and many other improve- 
ments were made. The total expen- 
ditures amounted to $34,357.18. The 
first Sunday service in the enlarged 
building was held on the morning of 
April 30, 1882. The five memorial 
windows in the south wall are severally 
inscribed : To the memory of Thomas 



246 



W. Blatchford. M. D., 1 794-1 866 ; 
to the memory of Rev. John K. Davis 
and Miss Helen S. Davis ; in memory 
of Pliny M. Corbin, for 21 years an 
elder in this church ; in memory of 
Mrs. Theodocia C. Fitch and her 
daughter, Mrs. Emily Fitch Heartt ; 
and in memory of Aaron Read, 1781- 

1 87 1. In the north wall are five other 
memorial windows, severally inscribed: 
In loving memory of Phebe Bloom 
Vail by her daughters, Jeanie E. Vail 
and Phebe H. Vail ; in memory of 
Samuel and Mary Gale by their sons, 
E. Thompson and John B. Gale ; in 
memory of Townsend McCoun Vail 
and Martha Card, his wife; by their 
son, Samuel McCoun Vail ; in memo- 
riam, Jared S. Weed, by his wife, 
Mary S. Weed ; to the memory of 
George Vail, an elder in this church 
from its organization to his death in 

1872, and of Jane, his wife, who died 
in 1866. 

Pastors: W. D. Snodgrass, D. D., 
October 3, 1834, to 1844 ; E. W. An- 
drews, September 18, 1844 to 1848 ; 
Ebenezer Halley, D. D.. July 6, 1848, 
to 1855 ; Duncan Kennedy, D. D., 
July II, 1855, to 1867 ; Charles E. 
Robinson, D. D., October 23, 1867, 
to 1877 ; Frederick G. Clark, D. D., 
April I, 1878, to April 29, 1886. 

Liberty Street Presbyterian 
Church is on the north side of Lib- 
erty Street, between Third and Fourth 
streets. The lot on which it is built 
was purchased by the city, June 30, 
1834. Shortly afterward the old ses- 
sion-house of the First Presbyterian 
Church was bought and removed to 
the site and an additional story added 
to the building. On Thursday. No- 
vember 27, that year, it was dedicated; 
the Rev. Theodore S. Wright of New 
York City preaching the dedicatory 
sermon. The large room on the 
second floor was set apart for divine 
worship, and the two rooms beneath 



were used for a Sunday-school and a 
day-school. There was no distinct 
church organization effected by those 
worshiping there until January 17, 
1840, when the common council of 
the city appointed T. B. Bigelow, 
William Rich, and Alexander 
Thuey trustees until a properly in- 
corporated society could own the 
property. Thirty-three members of 
the First Presbyterian Church re- 
ceived their cards of dismission and 
organized the Liberty Street Presby- 
terian Church. On February 3, that 
year, William Rich, Alexander Thu- 
ey, and Peter Jackson were elected 
trustees of the Liberty Street Presby- 
terian Church, agreeable to the laws 
of the state of New York for the in- 
corporation of religious societies, and 
they, on February 6, that year, pur- 
chased the meeting-house and its site 
for 1 1, 000. 

Pastors: Henry Highland Garnelt, 
1841 to 1848 ; Edwin H. Freeman, 
1850 ; Benjamin Lynch, 1853 to 1855 ; 
J. C. Gibbs. 1855 to i860 ; James N. 
Gloucester, i860 to 1861 ; Jacob A. 
Prime, 1863 to 1870 ; John Matthews, 
1874; William Lynch, 1876 to 1878 ; 
J. A. Prime, (supply), 1880 to 1881 ; 
W. C. Brown, 1882 to present time. 

Park Presbyterian Church, 
west side of Second Street, between 
Washington and Adams streets. The 
desirability of having a Presbyterian 
church in the vicinity of Washington 
Park being common to a number of 
Presbyterians residing in that part of 
the city in 1853, they, in the spring of 
that year, subscribed various sums of 
money to erect one. In the following 
August the erection of the building 
was begun ; a site on the west side of 
Second Street, near Adams, having 
been purchased. In July, 1854, a 
room in the edifice having been fur- 
nished, services were held in it, and 
a Sunday-school organized. On Au- 



247 



gust 24, the Troy (Old School) Pres- 
bytery constituted the Park Presby- 
terian Church, with a membership of 
twenty-three persons. On the follow- 
ing day the great fire of 1854 occurred, 
destroying two hundred buildings in 
the vicinity of the church. All the 
families connected with the organiza- 
tion, except four, weie deprived of 
their homes. Flying brands set fire 
to the building, but it was saved by the 
exertions of some of the members of 
the church and aiding firemen. For a 
time the impoverished condition of 
the church members delayed the com- 
pletion of the building. On Decem- 
ber 31, 1854, the church was dedi- 
cated. 

The first el^ders of the church were 
John Kerr and Lyman J. Rundell. 

Pastors: Charles S. Robinson, 1855 
to i860; Gilbert H. Robertson, 1S60 
to 1864; Abner DeWitt. 1865 to 
1871 ; Donald MacGregor, May, 1872, 
to present time. 

WooDsiDE Presbyterian Church, 
north side of Mill Street. Under the 
auspices of the First Presbyterian 
Church, a Sunday-school was organ- 
ized about the beginning of the year 
1866, in Mechanics' Hall, still stand- 
ing on the south side of Mill Street 
near the church. At a meeting held 
on April 8, 1867, a number of Pres- 
byterians, residing in that part of tlie 
city, determined to form a church, and 
engaged the Rev. John Tatlock, of 
Williamstown, Mass., to take charge 
of it. At their request, a committee 
of the Troy Presbytery, on June 19, 
in Mechanics' Hall, organized the 
Soutli Presbyterian Church of Troy, 
with twenty-nine members ; elders, 
Richard Davidson, Thomas B. Cook, 
and Ira R. Travell. On January 24, 
1868, a call was given the Rev. John 
Tatlock, " which, however, was not 
prosecuted before the Presbytery," 
and he resigned, on May i, "his po- 
sition as stated minister." In May, 



the erection of a church and chapel 
was begun on the land given by 
Erastus Corning and Henry Burden. 
The corner-stone was laid September 
16. The name of the organization 
was changed to that of the Woodside 
Presbyterian Church. About the mid- 
dle of June, 1869, the chapel was first 
used for church services. On July 15 
the church was dedicated. The cost 
of the attractive stone-edifice, includ- 
ing the chapel at the north end of it, 
was $75,000. Sittings, 300. A tab- 
let on the interior side of the south 
wall of the church bears this, inscrip- 
tion : " Woodside Memorial Church, 
dedicated to the service of the Triune 
God, has been erected to the memory 
of Helen Burden by her husband, 
Henry Burden, in accordance with 
her long cherished and earnest desire, 
1869." The new chapel, built of 
stone, east of the church and opposite 
the old chapel, is used by the Sunday- 
school, and is admirably furnished. 
A mural tablet in it is inscribed : 
"Woodside Chapel. Erected A. D. 
1883, by Margaret E. Proudfit, James 
A. Burden, I. Townsend Burden, in 
memory of their children." Henry 
Burden died January 19, 1871, and as 
it was his intention to build a manse, 
his surviving children erected one on 
the west side of the church as a me- 
morial to their father. 

Pastors : Matthew B. Lowrie, called 
July 8, installed October 30, 1S68, to 
December 26, 1870 ; Teunis S. Ham- 
lin, installed September 28, 1S71, to 
September, 1S84; Arthur Huntington 
Allen, February 8, 1885, to present 
time. 

Oakwood Avenue Presbyterian 
Church is on the northwest corner 
of Tenth and Hoosick Streets. A 
number of the members of the First 
Presbyterian Church organized the 
Oakwood Avenue Sunday-school, on 
March 18, 1866, occupying rooms of 
a building on the west side of Tenth 



249 



Street, north of Hoosick Street ; A. 
H. Graves being superintendent. 
Shortly afterward four lots were pur- 
chased on the northwest corner of 
Tenth and Hoosick streets and the 
election of the chapel was begun. On 
January i, 1867, the Sunday-school 
occupied it. The building was dedi- 
cated July I, 1868. Seventeen mem- 
bers and two elders were dismissed 
from the First Presbyterian Church 
that year to organize the Oakwood 
Avenue Church. 

Pastors: George Van Deurs, Janu- 
ary. 1868 to 1872 ; C. S. Durfee, 1S73 
to 1874; George Van Deurs, 187610 
1879; George D. Adams, 1881 ; W. 
H. Sybrandt, 1882 to present time. 

Ninth Presbyterian Church is 
on the northwest corner of North 
Second and Jay Streets. In 1846, 
some of the members of the Second 
Presbyterian Church organized a Sun- 
day-school, held for a time in the 
small wooden building known as the 
Disciples' Church, on the west side of 
North Second Street, between Jay and 
Vanderheyden streets, and now the 
dwelling house. No, 221. Afterward 
the school met in a hall, in the rear 
of a saloon. No. 45 Hoosick Street. 
Later the school was discontinued for 
the want of a suitable place in which 
to hold its sessions. In 1856, the 
Young Men's Christian Association 
of Troy, organized a Sunday-school 
in the Disciples' Church with twenty 
scholars. This school was discon- 
tinued in 1858. In 1859 another was 
organized in a building, afterward 
called the Rensselaer Street Mission 
Chapel, on ihe north side of Rensse- 
laer Street, near River Street. On 
July I. 1866, the Sunday-school be- 
came the charge of the Second Pres- 
byterian Church. In the spring of 
186S, the erection of the house of 
worship, on the northwest corner of 
North Second and Jay Streets, was 
begun ; four adjacent lots there hav- 

33 



ing been purchased by the trustees of 
the Second Presbyterian Church. The 
corner-stone was laid July 21, that 
year. The chapel was first occupied 
by the Sunday-school on Sunday, De- 
cember 20, that year. Religious 
services on Sunday afternoons were 
conducted in it by the Rev. William 
Irvin, D. D., pastor of the Second 
Presbyterian Church, and other min- 
isters until May, 1869. when the Rev. 
Ninian B. Remick, a graduate of 
Union Theological Seminary, was 
placed in charge of the mission. On 
September 30, that year, the Troy 
Presbytery organized the Ninth Pres- 
byterian Church of Trov, with sev- 
enty-one members. The Rev. N. B. 
Remick, having been regularly called 
to the pastorate of the church, was 
ordained and installed, October 28, 
1869. The first trustees were elected 
that day, and the church was incor- 
porated May 3, 1870. The new chapel 
west of the church was dedicated 
April ig, 18S3. The manse on the 
north lot was built in 18S3. 

Pastor: Ninian B. Remick, 1S69 
to present time. 

Westminster Presbyterian 
Church, on the northwest corner of 
First Street and Fifth Avenue, Lan- 
singburgh. This church is the out- 
growth of a mission Sunday-school 
organized under the care of the Second 
Street Presbyterian Church. A di- 
lapidated school-house, on the north- 
west corner of Vail Avenue and Tur- 
ner's Lane (now Glen Avenue) was 
on December, 1S6S, refitted for the 
use of the Sunday-school organized the 
lirst Sunday in January, 1869 ; Edgar 
P. Schoonmaker being elected super- 
intendent, and thirty scholars attend- 
ing. The success of the school being 
marked by a large and increasing 
number of scholars, the members of 
the Second Presbyterian Church de- 
cided to erect a chapel on the second 
lot north of the school-house lot. 



251 



The building was erected, and was 
dedicated October 23, 1870. On Febru- 
ary I, 1871, the Rev. James Marshall 
took charge of the mission. In Septem- 
ber following, thirty-nine persons con- 
nected with the mission requested the 
Presbytery of Troy to organize them 
into a Presbyterian society. On No- 
vember 2, the '' Westmmster Pres- 
byterian Church of Troy " was duly 
organized with forty-two members. 
In August, 1882, the weather-boarded 
church was moved to its present site. 
The building was then enlarged by 
the addition of a Sunday-school 
room. On September 23, 1882. the 
first service was held in the building 
after its removal. The church has a 
membership of 248 persons. 

Pastors : James Marshall, Novem- 
ber 2, 1871 to March i, 1872 ; Thomas 
L. Sexton, May 9, 1872 to July, 1875; 
Clarence Eddy, July i, 1875 to 1880 ; 
George Fairlee, September 22, 1880, 
to present lime. 

Mount Ida Presbyterian Me- 
morial Church is on the west side of 
Pawling Avenue, and opposite Mount 
Ida Cemetery. On the evening of 
April 25, 1870, a Sunday-school, un- 
der the auspices of the Park Presby- 
terian Church, was organized in the 
room occupied by the Mount Ida 
Temperance Society, in the second 
story of a weather-boarded building 
on the southeast corner of Pawling 
Avenue and Congress Street ; the 
Rev. Abner DeWitt, pastor of the 
Park Presbyterian Church, presiding. 
At the first meeting of the Sunday- 
school, on May i, in the room men- 
tioned, there were five officers, eight 
teachers, and thirty scholars present. 
By the receipt, in 1871, of $1,500, 
given by the Second Presbyterian 
Church of Troy to the memorial fund 
raised to commemorate the re-union 
in the Presbyterian Church in the 
United States, the school being no 



longer dependent upon the Park Pres.^ 
byterian Church for support, the erec- 
tion of the Memorial Chapel was be- 
gun on the southwest corner of Paw- 
ling and Elm avenues. In the fall of 
that year, a number of Presbyterians 
residing in the vicinity of the chapel 
conferred with some of the members 
of the Third Presbyterian Church at 
Albia, which was then without a pas- 
tor, and they collectively determined, 
on December 12, to unite in calling a 
pastor and in holding regular Sunday 
services in the Memorial Chapel then 
building. On January 7, 1872, the 
Rev. Abner DeWitt, began his pas- 
toral labors in the Third Presbyterian 
Church, at Albia. The Memorial 
Chapel, a weather-boarded building, 
thirty-five by sixty-five feet, was ded- 
icated March 14 ; the Sunday-school 
having continued its meetings until 
that time in the room of the Mount 
Ida Temperance Society. The Rev. 
Abner DeWitt was installed June 
20, 1872, in Memorial Chapel ; thirty- 
eight members being received that 
day by letter from other Presbyterian 
churches. At the time of the union 
in December, 1871, it was agreed that 
whenever the members from Albia de- 
sired to withdraw, they had that priv- 
ilege. In October, 1877, they did 
withdraw. The remaining members 
then requested the Presbytery of Troy 
to organize them as a new society by 
the name of the Mount Ida Presbyte- 
rian Memorial Church. Their peti- 
tion was granted, and the church with 
one hundred and forty-three members 
was organized October 16, 1877. On 
October 18, the Rev. George Edwin 
McLean was installed pastor of the 
church. Memorial Chapel was de- 
stroyed by fire on the night of Decem- 
ber 3, 1877. The work of laying tlie 
foundation of the present church, a 
short distance soutli of the site of the 
chapel, was begun the same montli; 
the society worshiping until June 



352 



i6, 1878, in the Farnam Institute, 
when on that day the Sunday-school 
rooms in the new building were first 
used. The brick edifice, sixty by 
eighty feet, was dedicated October 24, 
1878. The organ, built by Hook & 
Hastings, of Boston, was placed in 
the church in March, 1879. 

Pastors : Abner DeWitt, January 
7, 1872 to April 17, 1877, (day of his 
death); George Edwin McLean, Sep- 
tember, 1877 to 1882 ; William Reed, 
1882 to present time. 

United Presbyterian Church is 
on the east side of Fifth Street, 
between State Street and Broad- 
way. A number of persons resid- 
ing in Troy in 1832 desired the 
Associate Presbytery of Albany to 
appoint a minister to preach to 
them. The Rev. Peter Bullions, 
then a professor of languages in 
the Albany Academy, in answer to 
the request, came and preached on 
September 23, 1832, in a school-house 
on the east side of Fourth Street, be- 
tween State and Congress streets. On 
February 6, 1834, the society was or- 
ganized in the building with sixteen 
members. The first ruling elders 
were Robert Cruikshank and William 
BrinckerhofF. On May i, 1S34, the 
society rented a weather-boarded 
building on the east side of First 
Street, near Division Street, for its 
use, and there partook of the sacra- 
ment of the Lord's Supper as a con- 
gregation for the first time. In 1836, 
the society erected a brick church on 
the east side of Seventh Street, be- 
tween Broadway and State Street, 
which was dedicated November 13, 
1836. This building was burned in 
the great fire of May 10, 1862, which 
was then called the Scotch Presbyte 
rian Church. Shortly afterward the 
union of the Associate and the Asso- 
ciate Reformed Presbyterian churches 
was effected under the name of the 
United Presbyterian Church. Imme- 



diately after the fire, which destroyed 
the Seventh Street church, the con- 
gregation began the erection of the 
present edifice, on the east side of 
Fifth Street, between Broadway and 
State Street. It was dedicated Feb- 
ruary 15, 1863; the site and building 
having cost $10,039.56. 

Pastors : Peter Bullions, D. D., 
December 28, iS36toi852; 1853 to 
February 13, 1S64, (when he died) ; 
H. P. McAdam, July 20, 1865 to Jan- 
uary II, 1871 ; R. D. Williamson, 
February 6, 1872, to present time. 

Presbyterian Church Home, 

No. 90 Fourth Street, east side, be- 
tween State Street and Broadway, 
established January 23, 1871. 

Printers.— 

Edward Green, book and job 
printer, No 214 River Street. In 
April, 1S64, he and S. C. Wilson en- 
gaged in the business under the name 
of Wilson & Green, whom he suc- 
ceeded in August, 1868. 

T. J. Hurley, book and job 
printer, Harmony Hall Building, sue 
cessor to Hurley Brothers. Busi- 
ness begun by Thomas and T. J. Hur- 
ley in 1869. 

Edward H. Lisk, book and job 
printer, No. 312 River Street. Bu- 
ness begun by Lisk & Barnum, Feb- 
ruary 10, 1880. 

Henry Stowell, printer. No. 5 
Cannon Place, began business in 1871. 

Produce Merchants, Whole- 
sale.— 

Truman E. Ingalls, wholesale 
flour and produce merchant, No. 339 
River street, successor to Hanaman & 
Ingalls. Established in 1871. 

William F. Stansfield, successor 
to F. A. Fales, wholesale provision 



253 

and produce commission merchant. Premier Lodge, No. 20, insti- 
also pork packer, No. 147 River street, tuted August ii, 1869, meets on 
Established 1849. Thursday evenings. 

GUTTENBERG LODGE, No. 112, 
meets on Friday evenings. 

Railroads. — Four railroads con- 
nect Troy with other places. The 
one first built was the 

Rensselaer and Saratoga Rail- 
road, extending twenty-four miles to 
Ballston now leased to the Delaware 
and Hudson Canal Company. The 
Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad 
Company was incorporated by the act 
passed April 14, 1832. In 1833, 
the construction of its road was 
begun. The terminus of the road 
in Troy was in the yard on the 
south side of the two-story, brick 
building, standing in 1835 on the 
north half of the plat on which 
is the Troy Young Men's Associa- 
tion Building. Until 1853, the cars 
were drawn by horses from Green 
Island across the bridge and through 
River Street to the office of the com- 
pany, in the building. No. 10 First 
Street. (See Rensselaer and Sar- 
atoga Railroad Bridge.) The 
road was constructed to prevent the 
trade of Northern New York being 
diverted to Albany via the Schenec- 
tady and Saratoga and the Mohawk 
and Hudson railroads. The road 
was opened from Waterford to Ball- 
ston, August 10, 1835. On Tuesday, 
October 6, 1835, the first passenger 
train crossed the bridge to I'roy. On 
October 12, that year, the company 
made the following announcement: 
" Passengers will leave Troy every 
morning for the Burrough [Mechanic- 
ville] in the Ballston and Saratoga 
train of rail road cars, precisely at lO 
o'clock, and from thence to Whitehall 
in coaches and the splendid new 
packet. Red Bird. * * * 



Protestant Episcopal Church 
Home is on the northeast corner of 
Seventh Street and Broadway. The 
institution was first established under 
the name of the House of Mercy by 
the Brotherhood of St. Barnabas, in 
November, 1854. It was first located 
at No. 5 Harrison Place ; afterward 
on the south side of Federal Street, 
between Sixth and Eighth streets. 
The building was burned in the fire 
May 10, 1S62, By the act passed, 
April 17, 1863, it was incorporated 
" The Church Home of the city of 
Troy," with a board of fifteen trus- 
tees. The present two-story, brick 
building was erected in 1873. The 
site, biUlding, and furniture cost 
about $30,000. The chapel, on the 
north side of the house, was erected, 
in 1880, by the children of Mrs. Jacob 
Lane, to her memory. Clarence B. 
Cutler, architect. 

Public Building, Troy. -On 

February 5, 1885, the Troy Public 
Building bill passed the House of 
Representatives, appropriating $200,- 
000 for the purchase of a site and the 
erection of a building on it for the use 
of the United States government in 
the city. The commission appointed 
by the Secretary of the Treasury to 
select a suitable site for the building 
obtained in the summer of 1S86 the 
Gross, Hall, and Griffith properties, 
151 by 132 feet, at the northeast cor- 
ner of Fourth Street and Broadway, 
for $99,000. 

Pythias, Knights of, meet in 
Pythian Castle, in Mutual National 
Bank Building, northeast corner of 
First and State streets. 



254 



" Cars will remain opposite the 
office and at the east end of the bridge 
every morning from sunrise to 9 
o'clock to take freight for the Bur- 
rough, Ballston, and Saratoga." 

1 he passenger cars were not much 
larger than those on the street 
railways. The doors opened on the 
sides and the tickets were collected 
by the conductors standing on the 
foot-boards along the sides of the cars. 
At different points on the track along 
River Street cars were left standing to 
be conveniently entered by persons 
stopping over-night at the ho' els. 

The refusal of the Schenectady 
and Saratoga Railroad Company to 
allow the Rensselaer and Sar- 
atoga Railroad Company to carry 
freight over the road of the former, 
from Ballston to Saratoga, caused a 
number of Troy capitalists to pur- 
chase the larger part of the stock of 
the disobliging company to get con- 
trol of its road. Having obtained 
the stock, the enterprising directors 
for a time embargoed Albany's goods 
from being carried over the road. 

Schenectady and Troy Rail- 
road. Troy's competitive spirit was 
in bonds until the city had a railroad 
connecting it with those in the west- 
ern part of the state. The Schenec- 
tady and Troy Railroad Company 
was incorporated by the act, passed 
May 21, 1836. The construction of the 
road to Schenectady, 21^ miles long, 
was begun in 1840. From Green 
Island to the higher ground toward 
Cohoes, the track was laid on trestle 
work. Some years later the present 
high embankment was made. Trains 
began running on the road in No- 
vember, 1842. 

Troy and Greenbush Railroad. 
An act was passed by the legislature 
April 17, 1832, to incorporate the 
New York and Albany Railroad Com- 
pany. The company was permitted 



to build a railroad from the junction 
of Fourth Avenue, in New York City, 
and the Harlem River, to a point op- 
posite or near the city of Albany, "with 
power to continue and extend the 
same to the city of Troy." The con- 
struction of the road from New York to 
Greenbush was delayed for a number 
of years. Under the act, however, a 
track was laid from Greenbush to 
Troy in 1840-41. The use of it was 
not permitted by law until 1845. On 
May II, that year, the act to incor- 
porate the Troy and Greenbush Rail- 
road Company was pa.-sed. On June 
12, the first trains began running on 
the road. As provided by the char- 
ter, the road extended from Washing- 
ton Street, where it intersected the 
track of the Schenectady and Troy 
Railroad, laid on River Street, to the 
town of Greenbush, where it con- 
nected with the track of the Albany 
and West Stockbridge Railroad. The 
trains were drawn by horses through 
River Street to the depot, on the site 
of the Manufacturers' National Bank 
Building, at the intersection of River 
and King Streets. 

Troy and Boston Railroad. 
The first project to connect the two 
cities commercially was that of a canal, 
suggested, in 1819, by Lacomi Bald- 
win, an eminent engineer. In 1826, 
a commission reported favorably to 
the Massachusetts legislature respect- 
ing the construction of a canal be- 
tween the two places. The building 
of railroads in the United States hav- 
mg begun, the feasibility of construct- 
ing a road to Troy from Greenfield, 
Mass., running through the Hoosac 
mountain, was discussed. The cost 
of constructing forty-five miles of the 
road, extending from Greenfield north- 
westward to the south boundary line 
of Vermont and including the tunnel- 
ing of the mountain, was estimated at 
$3,500,000. Previous to the charter- 
ing of the Troy and Boston Railroad 




IF" 



256 



Company, April 4, 1848, a committee 
of Troy capitalists employed a corps 
of engineers under the direction of A. 
F. Edwards to make a preliminary 
survey of a route from Troy to the 
Vermont line. In May, 184Q, sub- 
scriptions to the capital stoci< of the 
company began to be received. On 
November 20, that year, John E. 
Wool, George M. Tibbits. D. Thomas 
Vail, Daniel Robinson, Charles H. 
Merritt. Jonas C. Heartt, Elias John- 
son, E. Thompson Gale, Isaac B. 
Hart, and Stephen E Warren of 
Troy, Amos Briggs of Schaghticoke, 

D. S. McNamara of North Hoosick, 
and L. Chandler Ball of Hoosick 
Falls were elected directors of the 
company. 

On Thursday morning, June 6, 
1850, a large procession, civic and 
military, marched from the court- 
house to a field of the Bull's Head 
farm, north of the city, where, after 
the delivery of addresses by a number 
of prominent citizens, General John 

E. Wool with a pickbroke the ground. 
Day O. Kellogg, mayor of the city, 
shoveled the loosened earth into a 
wheelbarrow, and Amos Briggs, the 
president of the company, wheeled it 
away. After these formalities of be- 
ginning the construction of the road 
from Troy, and the return of the pro- 
cession to the city, the officers of the 
company with more than a hundred 
guests partook of a dinner at the Troy 
House. 

At that time it was thought that 
the tunneling of the Hoosac moun- 
tain would be completed btfore the 
railroad from Troy. The project of 
tunneling through the mountain was 
deemed by many an undertaking that 
would never be accomplished, and it 
was remarked by a prominent news- 
paper that " nobody but the Trojans 
would think of such an exploit." The 
road of the Troy and Rutland Rail- 
road Company, formed March 6, 1S51, 



extending from the junction at Eagle 
Bridge to Salem, leased to the Rut- 
land and Washington (Vt.) Railroad 
Company, was opened June 28, 1852, 
and on the evening of that day the 
first passenger train arrived in Troy 
on the Troy and Boston Railroad from 
its junction at Eagle Bridge. The 
road between Troy and Hoosick Falls 
was opened in August, 1853, On 
February g, 1875, the first train of 
cars passed through the Hoosac Tun- 
nel. Length of tunnel 4f miles. The 
first passenger train from Boston, via 
the Fiichburg Railroad, arrived in 
Troy on October 13, 1875. The first 
through train from the city, left Troy, 
July 17, 1876, at 7 A. M., and arrived 
in Boston at 2:30 p. M. Tength of 
Troy and Boston Railroad, from 
Troy to North Adams, Mass., 48 
miles. Distance by rail from Troy to 
Boston, 191 miles. 

The Troy and Bennington Railroad 
Company was formed, May 15, 1851. 
The construction of the road from 
Hoosac Junction to Bennington, Vt., 
was begun in June, that year. The 
road was opened, August i, 1852. It 
is leased by the Troy and Boston Rail- 
road Company. 

Troy Union R.mlroad. — The in- 
convenience attending the running 
of the freight and passenger cars of 
the different railroad companies on 
River Street, especially in the use of 
horses for drawing the cars from one 
point to another on that narrow thor- 
oughfare, suggested the erection of a 
depot for the common use of the com- 
panies. The office of the Rensselaer 
and Saratoga Railroad Company was in 
the building No. 10 First Street, and 
the offices of the other companies 
were in the building No. igg River 
Street, where also the Troy and New 
York Steamboat Association had its 
offices. (vSee Steamboats.) 

By the act, passed June 20, 1S51, 
the city and the several railroad com- 



257 



panics were authorized to build a de- 
pot and to lay tracks to it through the 
city. Under the act, the Troy Union 
Railroad Company was formed, July 
21, 1851. In January, 1853, the 
company purchased the Eaton & Gil- 
bert property on Sixth Street, between 
Fulton Street and Broadway, On 
December 3, 1852, by an agreement 
with the city, the company was per- 
mitted to take ground on each side of 
Sixth Street for a passenger house, 
and to change the course of Sixth 
Street at that point to permit access 
to "the passenger house" on the sides 
of the building. The erection of the 
depot was begun and completed in 
1853 New tracks were laid to the 
building from the south part of the 
city ; the water of the stream flowing 
to the Poesten Kill along the line of 
Sixth Street having been diverted to 
other channels. Other tracks were 
laid to the Rensselaer and Saratoga 
Railroad Bridge. The tracks on 
River Street were removed, the Rens- 
selaer and Saratoga Railroad Bridge 
was widened, and trains arrived and 
departed from the depot drawn by lo- 
comotives. The Union depot and 
railroad were formally opened on Feb- 
ruary 22, 1854. The depot was burn- 
ed in the great fire of May 10, 1862, 
and the present one erected immedi- 
ately thereafter. 

Railways.— (See Street Rail- 
ways.) 

Rand's Opera House. — Al- 
though Rand's Hall, on the northwest 
corner of Third and Congress streets, 
had been used for a score of years as 
a concert room, a lecture hall, and a 
place of exhibitions, it was not until 
1872 that it was enlarged and fitted 
for dramatic representations. On 
Monday evening, November 11, that 
year, it was formally opened with read- 



ings by Mrs. Scott Siddons. The 
house seats about 1450 people. Its 
stage is sixty-three feet wide and forty 
deep. The building is the property 
of Gardner Rand. 

Rangers, Independent Order 
of.— 

Camp Columiua, No. 9, (German), 
meets on every fourth Sunday in each 
month in Pythian Castle. 

Camp John A. Grlswold. 

Camp Henry Burden No. i, meets 
on the first and fourth Tuesday even- 
ings in each month in Mechanics' 
Hall, Mill Street. 

Rechabites. — 

Troy Tent, No. 30, meets on the 
second and fourth Thursday evenings 
in each month at No. 269 River Street. 

Rensselaer County, named in 
honor of the Van Rensselaer family, 
was erected from a part of Albany 
County, by the act of legislature, 
passed February 7, 1791. It is 
bounded on the east by the states of 
Massachusetts and Vermont, on the 
north by Washington County, on the 
south by Columbia County, and on 
the west by the Hudson River, and 
includes the islands nearest the east 
bank of the stream. Its greatest 
length is thirty miles and its greatest 
breadth twenty-two miles. It has an 
area of 631 square miles, and lies be- 
tween 42*^27' and 42° 55' north lati- 
tude and between 3° 10' and 3° 41' 
east longitude. The county embraces 
seventeen towns. Population in 1880, 
115,340. (Seetownsof Berlin, Bruns- 
wick, East Greenbush, Grafton, 
Greenbush, Hoosick, Lansing- 
burgh, Nassau, North Greenbush, 
Petersburgh, Pittstown, Poes- 
tenkill, Sandlake, Schaghti- 
coke, Schodack, Stephentown, 
Troy.) 



34 



259 



Rensselaer Union Club, or- 
ganized October 5, 1S80. Club Build- 
ing, No. 14 First Street. Gilbert 
Robertson, jr., president ; Ellas P. 
Mann, treasurer ; George P. Daw, 
secretary. 

Roofing. — 

PoMEROY & Co., patent asphalt 
and gravel roofing, Union Street, be- 
tween Slate and Congress streets. 

Williams & Manocue, (R. J. Wil- 
liams and E. Manogue), roofing con- 
tractors and dealers in iron, tin, tile 
and rubber roofing materials. Slate 
roofing a specialty. Office, No. 279 
River Street. Established, August, 
1885. 

Roman Catholic Churches. — 

There are eight Roman Catholic 
churches in the city, if St. Michael's 
be included. 

St. Peter's Church is on the 
northeast corner of North Second and 
Hutton streets. A number of Roman 
Catholics, worshiping in the school- 
house on the southeast corner of Sec- 
ond and Ferry streets, was organized 
into a congregation in 1825, and took 
the name of St. Peter's Roman Cath- 
olic Church of Troy. Before the de- 
molition of the court-house, in 1827, 
the congregation frequently worshiped 
in it. Having been in.«tructed to ob- 
tain a site for a church, tlie trustees, 
on or about October 28, 1S26, pur- 
chased lot 214, on the northeast cor- 
ner of North Second and Hutton 
streets. As provided in the convey- 
ance, the plat was " for the use and 
purpose of having a meeting-house 
built and forever continued thereupon, 
for the purpose of religious public 
worship," and " also that a clock and 
bell should, within a reasonable time 
after the building of the first meeting- 
house, be placed, put and continued 



thereon," and in case these conditions 
were not fulfilled, the property was 
to revert to the grantors. On P'eb- 
ruary ig, 1827, at a meeting held. in 
the court-house, trustees were elected 
and the church was incorporated ac- 
cording to the laws of the state of 
New York. On the erection of the 
church, a frame building, in 1S29, it was 
dedicated, in 1830, by the Right Rev. 
John Du Bois, Bishop of New York. 
Some years later, a brick addition was 
built to it, increasing the length of the 
church to eighty feet. About noon, 
on February 10, 1848, the building 
was destroyed by fire. The attractive 
brick structure, with its finely pro- 
portioned clock-tower and steeple, 
now occupying its site, was dedicated 
December 16, 1849; the Right Rev. 
John McCloskey, Bishop of Albany, 
preaching the dedicatory sermon. 

Pastors : P. McGilligan, 1S25 to 
1S27 ; John Shanahan, 1827 to 
1842 ; Peter Havermans, June 3, 
1S42, to 1845 ; Francis Donohue, 
1845 ; Philip O'Reiley, 1S47 to 1849; 
John Curry, 1849 to 1851 ; Michael 
McDonnell, 1851 to 1855 ; Thomas 
Daley, 1855 to 1858; Clarence A. 
Walworth, 1858 to 1861 ; James 
Keveny, 1861 to 1880; Patrick A. 
Ludden, May, 1880 to present time. 

St. Mary's Church is on the 
northeast corner of Third and Wash- 
ington streets. While pastor of St. 
Peter's Church, the Rev. F'ather Hav- 
ermans, perceiving the advantages of 
a church in the south part of the city, 
and having received the sanction of 
the Right Rev. Bishop Hughes to 
build one in the name of the trustees 
of St. Peter's Church, he instructed 
them to purchase the lot, 50 by 
129 feet, on the northeast corner of 
Third and Washington streets, which 
they did. May 27, 1843. The erection 
of ilie church was at once begun. The 
church, however, was erected with 
money collected by the Rev. Peter 




ST. MARY'S CHURCH. 



261 



Havermans, and became the property 
of the trustees of St. Mary's Church. 
On June 29, that year, ihe corner-stone 
was laid by the Very Rev. John Pow- 
ers, the vicar-general of New York , 
the bishop being in Europe. On Sun- 
day, August 15, 1844, the church was 
dedicated by the Very Rev. John Pow- 
ers. The organ, built by Henry Erben 
of New York, cost $2,200. The 
clock was made by Phelps & Gurley, 

At the beginning of the late civil 
war, the Rev. Father Havermans was 
the second Roman Catholic minister in 
the United States to place the .Stars 
and Stripes above his church and to 
keep them floating there until the end 
of the rebellion. The Rev. Peter Hav- 
ermatis' pastorate of St. Mary's 
Church has been the longest of any 
minister of a church in Troy. When 
he came to the United States, in 1830, 
there were about 200 priests in the 
country; now there are 7,796. In 
1830, there were only 21 in the state 
of New York. 

Pastor: Peter Havermans, 1S43 to 
present time. 

St. Joseph's Church is on the 
north side of Jackson .Street, between 
Third and Fourth streets. The Rev. 
Peter Havermans, of St. Mary's 
Church, seeing the importance of 
taking advantage of the growth of the 
city between the Poesten and Wynants 
kills, and having the consent of the 
Right Rev. Bishop Hughes, purchased, 
in the spring of 1847,3 site for a church 
on the north side of Jackson Street, 
and began the erection of the build- 
ing; the excavation for the foundation 
of which was made by a body of 
men from the Nail Works. The cor- 
ner-stone was laid May 21, 1S47 ; the 
Right Revs. Bishops Hughes and Mc- 
Closkey officiating. In 1848, the church 
was purchased by the Society of Jesus, 
for *6,ooo. On November 6, 1853, 
the building was dedicated ; the Right 
Rev. Bishop McCloskey officiating. 



Pastors : Peter Verheyden, 1848 to 
1852 ; Aug. Thebaud, 1S52 to i860; 
Joseph Loyzance, i860 to 1863 ; Aug. 
Thebaud, 1863 to 186S ; M. Driscoll, 
1868 to 1876; Joseph Loyzance, 1876 
to present time. 

Church of St. John, the Bap- 
tist, (French), is on the east side of 
Second Street, between Adams and 
Jefferson streets. The congregation 
was organized in 1850. In 1852, the 
Universalist church, on the east side 
of Ferry Street, east side of the alley, 
between First and Second streets, was 
purchased for its use, and dedicated 
September 8, that year. On Monday 
morning, December 18, 1854, about i 
o'clock, the building was burned. 
The congregation for a time worship- 
ed at St. Joseph's Church. On 
March 10, 1S67, the church was incor- 
porated according to the laws of the 
state by the election of trustees. 
The site of the church on Second 
Street was purchased, and the corner- 
stone of the building was laid July 
19, 1868. On October 24, 1869, the 
church was dedicated. 

Pastors : Magloire F. Turcotte, 
1852 to 1S55; George J. Brown, 1869 
to 1875 ; G. Huberdault, 1876 to 
1880 ; R. J. Coste, 1881 to 1883 ; Jo- 
seph Charette, 1883 to present time. 

St. Francis' Church is on the 
south side of Congress Street, Ida 
Hill, opposite Thirteenth Street. The 
congregation was organized in 1861, 
and took the name of Holy Trinity 
Church. A brick church was erected 
on the west side of Fifteenth Street, 
between Christie and Marshall streets, 
and dedicated in June, 1863, under 
the name of St. Francis' Church. 
The present edifice was erected in 
1881-82, and opened for services on 
Sunday, April 9, 1882. 

Pastors : Peter Havermans, 1S61 to 
iS66; Henry Herfkens, 1867 to 1872; 
F. Francis, 1873 to 1875 i William J. 



262 



Burke, 1875 to 1876 ; W. A. Drum, 
1877 to 1882 ; Charles A. Reilly, 
1883 to present time. 

St. Laurence's Church, (Ger- 
man), is on the east side of Third 
Street, near Jefferson Street. The 
first German Roman Catholic congre- 
gation in Troy was organized in i860, 
and worshiped about two years in St. 
Mary's Hall ; the Rev. Gus. Miet- 
tinger, pastor. In 1868, St. Lau- 
rence's congregation was formed in 
Lutzelberger's Hall, No. 197 River 
Street, where the members worshiped 
about one year. Subsequently ser- 
vices were held in the church of St. 
John, the Baptist, until the church on 
the southeast corner of Third and 
Jefferson streets was built ; the corner- 
stone of which was laid September 5, 
1870. The corner-stone of the pres- 
ent, large, brick edifice, immediately 
south of the first church, was laid 
May 20, 18S3. 

Pastors : P. S. Puissant, 1868 to 
1869 ; Father Drolshagen, 1869 ; Nor 
bert Stoller, 1870; Henry C. Lipow- 
sky, 1870; P. A. Puissant. 1871 ; Jos- 
eph Ottenhues, 1871 to 1879 ; Bernard 
Schoppe, June i, 1S79 to present 
time. 

St. Patrick's Church is on the 
east side of Vail Avenue, between 
Canal and Douw streets. In 1871, 
the ecclesiastical authorities erected 
the parish of St Patrick, which in- 
cluded the territory of the city north 
of Rensselaer Street. The Rev. 
Father John Joseph Swift, who in 
1865, '66, and '67 had been assistant 
pastor at St. Peter's Church, and sub- 
sequently pastor of Waddington and 
outlying missions in St. Lawrence 
County, was given the pastorate of the 
new parish. On the plat of ground, 
extending from River Street to Vail 
Avenue, a church, 50 by 100 feet, a 
frame building, fronting on Vail Ave- 
nue, was erected in 1872. On the 



first Sunday in September, that year, 
mass was celebrated for the first time 
in it. The parsonage on River Street, 
west of the church, is a two-story, 
brick building. 

Pastor: John Joseph Swift, 1871 to 
present time. 

St. Michael's Church is on the 
southeast corner of Stow Avenue 
and Willow Street, in the town of 
North Greenbush, immediately south 
of the city limits. The congregation 
was organized by the Society of Jesus 
in 1872. The church was dedicated 
March 15, 1874. 

Pastors: Michael Driscoll, S. J., 
1872-76; John Fitzpatrick, assistant, 
1876 to 1878 ; Michael Flynn, assist- 
ant, 1878 to 1S79; Francis Marechal, 
assistant, 1880 to 1S81 ; Peter Coon- 
ey, assistant, 1882 ; P. McQuaid, 1883 
to 1884 ; Michael Nash, 1885 to pres- 
ent time. 



Round Lake, an attractive sum- 
mer resort and camp-meeting ground, 
is nineteen miles north of Troy on 
the Rensselaer & Saratoga Railroad. 
On April i, i868, Joseph Hillman and 
other prominent members of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, in Rensse- 
laer, Saratoga, and Albany counties, 
purchased forty acres of land there 
for a camp-meeting ground. The 
picturesque body ol placid water on 
the eastern bounds of the property 
was named Round Lake. It has a 
circumference of three miles. The 
act incorporating the Round Lake 
Camp Meeting Association was passed 
May 5, 1868. The first camp-meet- 
ing at Round Lake was held from 
September i to 10, that year; the Rev. 
Jesse T. Peck, D. D., preaching the 
first sermon. The property now com- 
prises about 200 acres of land. A 
large auditorium, more than two hun- 
dred and fifty pretty cottages, a com- 
modious hotel, the lake, fountains 



263 



and parterres of flowers make the 
embowered retreat in tlie extensive 
wood one of no ordinary attractive- 
ness. The first number of the Round 
Lake Journal was published Septem- 
ber 3, iS68. 



Rubber Goods.— 

Daniel Klock, jr., wholesale and 
retail dealer in rubber goods, boots 
and shoes ; retail store. No. lO Broad- 
way ; wholesale. No. 227 River 
Street, The success attending his 
embarkation in business discloses the 
fact that a merchant's career marked 
by enterprise, thrift, and honorable 
dealing gives him a prominent posi- 
tion among Ills contemporaries and 
competitors. An humble beginning 
and a final greatness in any undertak- 
ing bespeak the labor, self-denial, and 
attainments of the person or persons 
effecting the transition from the one 
to the other. The business in which 
Daniel Klock, jr., became engaged in 
1S65, had been established in Troy in 
1S60, by Henry Mayell, at No. 190 
River Street. Frederick A. Plum 
succeeded to the business in 1861, 
from whom, five years later, Daniel 
Klock, jr., puichased it. In 1868, he 
moved to No. 11 Mansion House 
Block, whence, in 1879, he moved to 
No. 10 Broadway. In 1S81, his 
largely increaicd business caused him 
to occupy the building, No. 273 River 
Street, with his wholesale department, 
from which he moved it, in the follow- 
ing year, to No. 227 River Street. 
His large and complete stock of rub- 
ber goods includes belting, hose, 
steam-packing, cloth, clothing, drug- 
gists' articles, and toys. As a whole- 
sale dealer in rubber boots and shoes, 
he constantly keeps in stock every 
description of these go; ds. The ter- 
ritory of his sales extends 'hrough the 
states of New York, Massachusetts, 
Vermont, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. 



Saudlake, a town in Rensselaer 
County, was erected by the act passed 
June 19, 1812. There are a number 
of small lakes in the town. 

Averill, commonly known as a part 
of the village of Sandlake, was made 
a post-office by that name in 1880. 
It is the seat of a number of mills and 
factories. Sliter's Corners, a local 
name for the eastern part of the vil- 
lage of Sandlake, has been the loca- 
tion of the post-office since 1S15. 
Glass House, early known as Rensse- 
laer Village, is a short distance south 
of Sliter's Corners. It is on the bor- 
der of Glass Lake, where the Rensse- 
laer Glass Factory was built^about the 
year 1806. West Sandlake is a vil- 
lage in the western part of the town. 
In 1S28, when the post-office was es- 
tablished there, Martin Rysedorph, 
postmaster, it was called Ulinesville. 
South Sandlake is in the southwestern 
part of the town. A post office was 
established there about 1852. 

Population of the town of Sand- 
lake : 1S15, 3,293 ; 1820, 3,302 ; 1S25, 
3.426; 1S30, 3.656; 1835, 3.840; 
1840, 4,303 ; 1S45, 4,291 ; 1850. 2,559 ; 
1S55, 2,588 ; i860, 2,502 ; 1S65 2,606 ; 

1870, 2,633 ; 1875. 2,572; 1880, 2,550. 



Sash and Blind Manufacto- 
ries. — 

Thomas Collins, manufacturer of 
sashes, doors, frames, mouldings, new- 
el posts, rails and balusters. Office, 
No. 555 Congress Street ; manufacto- 
ry, northwest corner of Francis and 
Highland avenues. 

Cunningham, Young & Co., (Al- 
exander G. Cunningham, J. L. and J. 
T. Young, and James R. Walsh), 
sash, door and blind manufacturers, 
and dealers in builders' supplies, No. 
145 River Street. Manufactory on 
Hill Street. Firm formed in April, 
1SS6. 



264 



Sohaghticoke, one of the towns 
of Rensselaer County, was erected 
by the act of March 7, 1788, for di- 
viding the counties of the state of 
New York into towns. By the charter 
granted by the English governor, 
Thomas Dongan, July 22, 1686, the 
city of Albany was permitted to pur- 
chase five hundred acres of land at 
"Schaihtecogue" from the Indians. In 
1708, the land having been purchased, 
a number of plantations were leased to 
settlers. Johannes Knickerbacker 
settled there in the early part of the 
eighteenth century. Near the old 
homestead of the Knickerbacker 
family, five miles west of Schaghti- 
coke. is the famous tree of peace of 
the Indians, twenty-two feet in cir- 
cumference around the trunk, planted 
more than two hundred years ago. 

Schaghticoke village, early known 
as Schaghticoke Point, was incorpo- 
rated by the name of Harts' Falls, 
March 20, 1867. It is a station on 
the Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and West- 
ern Railroad. A short distance east 
of the place is the Schaghticoke sta- 
tion of the Troy and Boston Railroad. 
The place is the seat of a number of 
large manufactories, Population in 
in 1880, 3,591. The mills of the 
Schaghticoke Powder Company are 
about a half mile southeast of the 
village. Schaghticoke Hill is the 
name of a small village on the Tom- 
hannock Creek. 

Melrose, on the Troy and Boston 
Railroad, is nine miles from Troy. 

Population of the town of Schaghti- 
coke : 1790,1,833; 1800,2,355; iSio, 
2,492; 1815,2,847; 1820,2,522; 1825, 
2,924; 1830,3,002; 1835,3,243; 1S40, 
3,389; 1845,3,091; 1850.3,200; 1855, 
3,303; 1860,2,929; 1865,3,054; 1870, 
3,125; 1875, 3,271; 1880, 3.610. 



The vjllage of Castleton, eight miles 
south of Greenbush, is a station on the 
Hudson River Railroad. It was in- 
corporated in 1827, Population in 
1880, 912. The National Bank of 
Castleton was organized January 25, 
1865, with a capital of $100,000! 
Schodack Landing is 3^ miles south 
of Castleton. Population, about 350. 
Schodack Depot and South Schodack 
are stations on the Boston and Albany 
Railroad. East Schodack, Schodack 
Center, and Muitzeskill are small vil- 
lages. 

Population of the town of Scho- 
dack : 1800,3,688; 1810. 3,166; 1815, 
3,128; 1820, 3,493; 1825,3,506; 1830,' 
3,794; 1835,3,793; 1840, 4,125; T845, 
3,746; 1850,3,509; 1855, 3,837; i860, 
3.993; 1865,4,015; 1870, 4,442; 1875, 
4,454; 1880, 4.319. 



Schodack, one of the towns of 
Rensselaer County, was erected by the 
act passed March 17, 1795. 



Schools, Public— The first 
school-house erected on the site of 
Troy was a small, weather-boarded 
building, known as the Red School- 
house, standing, in 1791, near the 
north end of the plat of ground be- 
tween Congress, Ferry, Second and 
Third streets. In the latter part of 
May, 1796, the trustees of the vil- 
lage advertised for "a schoolmaster 
capable of teaching all parts of an 
English education." 

At a meeting held on Monday, Feb- 
ruary 5. 1816, at Piatt Titus' inn, (the 
Troy House), the village trustees re- 
solved to call a public meeting of the 
freeholders and inhabitants at the 
court-house, on the following Thurs- 
day, to select a site for a school- 
house, in which to- instruct children 
according to the system projected by 
the distinguished Quaker, Joseph Lan- 
caster, of England, The committee 
selected the plat of ground on which 
the Troy Academy is built, on the 
northwest corner of State and Seventh 
streets. In April, the erection of the 
building was begun. By the act in- 



205 



corporating the city, April 12, 1816, 
trustees, not exceeding thirteen, were 
intrusted with the management of the 
Lancasterian school. It was provided 
in the same act that at the annual 
election of municipal officers one 
commissioner of schools should be 
elected in each of the wards of the 
cjty, and three inspectors of schools 
in the fifth and sixth wards. The 
Lancasterian school was opened on 
Monday, September 16, 1816. The 
terms of admission, as published, were 
" regulated by reference to the assess- 
ment list for collection of taxes. The 
highest price of tuition being two dol- 
lars a quarter, and the lowest twenty- 
five cents." These charges included 
books, stationery, and fuel, furnished 
by the trustees. The number of 
■ scholars attending the school during 
the first quarter was 315. In iSig, 
the school-house was burned. It was 
rebuilt. 

In 1820, there was a school in the 
city exclusively for the education of 
children of persons of African de- 
scent. 

In 1828, a monitorial school was 
opened in the upper-room of the Lan- 
casterian school-house. During the 
summer of that year, a two-story, brick 
building for an infant-school was, 
erected on the Lancasterian school- 
house lot, at the northeast corner of 
Sixth and State streets. (See Troy 
Academy.) In 1843 the Infant 
School-house and site were given to 
the Rensselaer Institute by the city. 
(See Rensselaer Polytechnic In- 
stitute.) 

The act to amend the charter of 
the city, and to provide for the estab- 
lishment of free schools in Troy, was 
passed April 4, 1849. ^" 1850, in 
the different wards, there were twelve 
public schools, which, in 1851, were 
attended by 2,495 scholars. 

On January 28, 1851, the committee, 
John S. Perry, George M. Tibbits, 



and William H. Young, to which the 
project of establishing a higli school 
was referred by the board of educa- 
tion, reported that it was deemed in- 
expedient "to hasten this work any 
faster than the board could carry with 
it an enlightened public opinion." 
On November 29, 1853, the commit- 
tee to which the plan for the organiza- 
tion of a high school was referred by 
the board of education, recommended 
the opening of one on the first Mon- 
day in January, 1854. On that day, 
the High School began its first term 
with forty-seven scholars, in the room 
on the second story of the free school 
building, on the east side of Sixth 
Street, between State Street and 
Broadway ; DeWitt C. Cram, prin- 
cipal. After the building was burn- 
ed in the fire of May 10, 1862, the 
High-School Building, on the west 
side of Fifth Street, between State 
Street and Broadway, was erected. 

The public schools of the city are 
now under the control of twelve 
school-commissioners, who constitute 
the board of school commissioners 
under the act, passed March 25, 1873. 
The superintendent, elected by the 
commissioners, has charge of all the 
public schools, buildings, furniture, 
and apparatus. 

In the last decade of years the net 
enrollment of children annually at- 
tending the public-schools in the city 
has been the following: 1876, 7,907; 
1877,7,979; 1878,8,269; 1879,8,905; 
1880,8,738; 1881,8,342; 1882,8,253; 
1883,8,298; 1884,7,914; 1885,8,038. 
In 1885, there were 165 teachers em- 
ployed in the schools, including a 
vocal-music teacher and a teacher of 
drawing. 

In 1884, the schools in the different 
wards were designated by the follow- 
ing numbers : thirteenth ward school, 
No. I ; tenth ward school No. 2, 
No. 2; tenth ward school No. i. No. 
3 ; seventh ward school. No. 4 ; 



35 



266 



fourth ward school, No. 5; third ward 
school, No. 6 ; second ward school, 
No. 7 ; first ward school No. i. No. 
No. 8 ; first ward school No. 2, No. 
9 ; eleventh ward school. No. 10 ; 
ninth ward school, No. 11 ; twelfth 
ward school. No. 12 ; sixth ward 
school. No. 13 ; fifth ward school No. 
I, No. 14 ; fifth ward school No. 2, 
(Albia), No. 15. 

High School, west side Fifth Street, 
between State Street and Broadway, 
brick building, 40 by 90 feet, three 
stories high. 

School No. I, southwest corner of 
Vail Avenue and Canal Street, brick, 
50 by 72, three stories. 

School No. 2, east side Tenth 
Street, south of Middleburgh Street, 
brick, three stories. 

School No. 3, southwest corner of 
North Second and Jay streets, brick, 
50 by 130, three stories. 

School No. 4, west side of North 
Third Street, between Jacob and Hut- 
ton streets, brick, 34 by 65, two stories. 

School No. 5, east side of North 
Fourth Street and west side of Harri- 
son Place, between Federal and Jacob 
streets, brick, 50 by 167, three stories. 

School No. 6, west side Fifth 
Street, between Broadway and State 
Street, brick, 40 by 90, three stories. 
Also High School. 

School No. 7, east side of Seventh 
Street, between State and Congress 
streets, brick, 44 by 82, three stories. 

School No. 8, west side of Fifth 
street, between Ferry and Liberty 
streets, brick, 32 by 48, two stories. 

School No. 9, northeast corner of 
River and Liberty streets, brick, 72 
by 75, three stories. 

School No. 10, southwest corner of 
Third and Adams streets, brick, 45 by 
70, three stories. 

School No. II, west side of Second 
Street, between Jackson and Monroe 
streets, brick, 44 by 75, two stories. 

School No. 12, northwest corner of 



First and Tyler streets, brick, 65 by 
99, three stories with basement. 

School No. 13, south side of Spring 
Street, brick, 60 by 81, three stories. 

School No. 14, southeast corner of 
Fourteenth Street and Tibbits Ave- 
nue, brick, 72 by 98, three stories. 

School No. 15, southwest corner of 
Rensselaer and Division streets, Albia, 
frame, 31 by 52, one slory. 

Male Orphan Asylum school, on 
northeast corner of Bedford and Han- 
over streets. 

Troy Orphan Asylum school, in 
Troy Orphan Asylum, on east side of 
Eighth Street, between Hutton and 
Hoosick streets. 

The course of study in the public 
schools covers a period of thirteen 
years ; the scholar entering the lowest 
primary school and graduating from 
the High School, being fitted to enter 
the freshman class of any of the prin- 
cipal colleges. 

Superintendents : Although the law 
authorizing the appointment of a city 
superintendent of public schools was 
not passed until March 25, 1873, ^hc 
following persons holding the position 
of clerk to the board of education and 
of principal of the High School, ex- 
officio, performed the duties of super- 
intendent : Edward Danforth, clerk, 
March 11, 1863 to 1868 ; Isaac W. 
Dunham, clerk, July 7, 1868 to April 
6, 1869 ; Marcus H. Martin, princi- 
pal of the High School, May, 1869 to 
September, i86g ; David Beattie, 
principal of the High School, January 
I 1870 to April 9, 1873. David Beat- 
tie was elected superintendent of the 
public schools on April 9, 1873, and 
he still retains the position. 

Seminaries. — 

St. Joseph's Provincial Semi- 
nary. On Thursday evening, January 
5, 1854, ameetingof some of the citizens 
of Troy was held in the courthouse to 
consider the proposals made by a 



261 



number of persons engaged in estab- 
lishing a college at Charlottesville, 
N. Y., to remove the institution to 
Troy. A committee of conference 
was appointed, consisting of Hiram 
Slocum, the Rev. George C. Baldwin, 
J. A. Millard, and Thomas B. Car- 
roll, who were to report to an ad- 
journed meeting, June lo, 1854. The 
committee reported favorably, and 
another committee was appointed to 
solicit money to purchase a site and 
to erect a college building, and to en- 
dow the institution, which was to be 



number of students was about sixty. 
In July, 1862, the first class was grad- 
uated. In October of that year, the 
building and its site were sold by 
Nelson Forsyth, referee, in a suit 
brought by the Union Bank for the 
forclosure of a mortgage of $11,000; 
the corporation having become bank- 
rupt by the inability of many persons 
to pay their subscriptions. Peck & 
Hillman.real estate brokers, purchased 
the property at a bid of $7,000; the 
liabilities aggregating more than 
$55,000. On December 2, 1862, the 



;k 







ST. Joseph's provincial seminary. 



unsectarian. In 1855 and 1856, sub- 
scriptions, in part payments, amount- 
ing to $200,000 were obtained. In 
the fall of 1856, the erection of the 
college building was begun on a part 
of "great lot A," on the east side of 
Eighth Street. On October i, the 
corner-stone was laid. On Septem- 
ber 8, 1858, the first term of the in- 
stitution, known as the Troy Univer- 
sity, began, under the Rev. John Mc- 
Clintock, D. D., as president. The 



firm announced, in a published card, 
that the university could "be retained 
for the purpose for which it was in- 
tended," provided the people of Troy 
and vicinity subscribed the amount 
necessary to liquidate the indebtedness 
of the institution." The firm also 
announced that the following sub- 
scriptions had been made, conditioned 
on the endowment of the university 
by Daniel Drew of New York : Mrs. 
Betsey A. Hart, $2,000 ; Lyman Ben- 



268 



nett, $i,ooo; L. A. Battershall, $i,ooo; 
David Cowee, $ 1,000 ; W. L. Van 
Alstyne, $1,000; l^eck & Hillman, 
$1,000 ; and G. Rowland, $500. The 
proposal not meeting with any satis- 
factory acceptance, the university, with 
thiity-nine acres of land surrounding 
it was sold for $60,000, on December 
6, to the Rev. Peter Havermans of 
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, 
agent for Archbishop Hughes, of New 
York. 

The building is four stories high, 
259 feet long, and on an average 48 
feet deep, erected at a cost of $197,000. 
Archbishop Hughes intended to 
make it the provincial seminary of 
the state of New York, and to 
place it under the management of 
the Sulpitians of Montreal. The 
latter it appears were unwilling to ac- 
cede to the overtures of the arch- 
bishop, and the institution was, in 
1864, placed in charge of a faculty 
consisting of a president and five pro- 
fessors, three from the University of 
Louvain and two from New York. 
In October, the institution was opened 
with about sixty students. On De- 
cember I, 1864. Archbishop McClos- 
key, assisted by the suffragan bishops 
of Albany, Burlington, Hartford, Bos- 
ton, and Portland, consecrated the 
building and placed it under the pro- 
tection of St. Joseph ; the institution 
taking the name of St. Joseph's Pro- 
vincial Seminary. About one hundred 
and twenty-five students yearly attend 
the course of instruction in the semi- 
nary, from which about four hundred 
and seventy ordained priests have been 
graduated since 1S64. The full course 
covers a period of five years, one of 
which is devoted to philosophy and a 
general preparation for theological 
studies, and the other years to the 
study of theology and the kindred 
branches of ecclesiastical knowledge. 
The vacations extend from the last 
Tluirsday in June to the first Tuesday 



in September ; and from the begin- 
ning of February to the middle of the 
month. The first president of the semi- 
nary was the Very Rev. Canon Van 
den Hende, who, in 1871, returned to 
Belgium. He was succeeded by the 
Very Rev. Henry Gabriels, D. D., 
who, previous to 1871, had filled the 
chair of dogmatic theology. 

Troy Female Seminary, on the 
west side of Second Street, between 
Congress and Ferry streets. Mrs. 
Emma Willard, the wife of Dr. John 
Willard, while principal of a girls' 
school at Middlebuty, Vermont, es- 
tablished by her in 1814, deeming 
that an institution for the higher edu- 
cation of young women was greatly 
needed in the United States, projected 
a plan for the incorporation and en- 
dowment of a seminary in which girls 
might receive instruction in the same 
branches of knowledge as young men 
in colleges. Desiring to establish 
one at some suitable place in the state 
of New York, she addressed a letter 
to Governor DeWitt Clinton, at 
Albany, expressing her views, and at 
the same time transmitted a manu- 
script to him in which the proposed 
measures to be taken for the accom- 
plishment of the undertaking were 
represented. In his reply of Decem- 
ber 31, 1818, Governor Clinton wrote 
that he would be pleased to see her 
the principal of such an institution, 
and expressed his willingness to aid 
her. Expecting that the legislature 
of the state of New York would fur- 
ther her project by passing an act to 
incorporate and endow an institution 
as described by her, she, in the spring 
of 1819, moved to Waterford, where 
she opened a girls' school. A num- 
ber of prominent citizens of Troy 
becoming interested in her purpose, 
began to take steps to have such a 
seminary established in this city of 
which she was to be given the prin- 



270 



cipalship. On March 6, 1821, they 
induced the common council to pass a 
resolution to raise $4,000 by tax upon 
the freeholders of the first four wards 
of the city, "for the purpose of pur- 
chasing or erecting a suitable building 
for a Female Academy;" the citizens 
agreeing to advance $5,000 for the 
same purpose. On April 14, 1821, 
the city purchased for $1,700, parts 
of lots 114 and 115, each fronting on 
Second Street 50 feet ; lot 115 having 
a depth of 102 feet 6 inches, and the 
one-half of lot 114 having the same 
depth, the other half, a depth of 130 
feet to the alley west of it. In May, 
1821, Mrs. Willard became principal 
of the Troy Female Seminary, using 
the lecture-room of the Troy Lyceum 
of Natural History, in the court-house, 
for a recitation-room, and the apart- 
ments of two dwellings near the 
court-house for study and lodging, 
rooms for the boarding scholars. 
Meanwhile the wooden building, 
known as Moulton's Coffee-House, 
50 by 60 feet, three stories high' 
standing on the plat of ground on the 
west side of Second Street, between 
Congress and Ferry streets, purchased 
by the city, was stripped of its weath- 
er-boarding and the frame incased 
with brick ; the interior being recon- 
structed with rooms and halls accord- 
ing to the plans furnished by Mrs. 
Willard. On August 2, that year, the 
common council appointed David 
Buel, jr., Joseph Russell, Nathan 
Warren, Richard P. Hart, Jeremiah 
Dauchy, James Mallory. William 
Bradley, and Amasa Paine, trustees 
of the institution. In the fall of the 
year, the building was occupied by 
the school. The first members of the 
faculty were: Mrs. Emma Willard, 
principal; Miss Elizabeth Sherrill, 
Angelica Gilbert, Mary Heywood, 
and Elizabeth P. Huntinston, instruc- 
tors ; Miss Sarah W. Iiigalls, Mary 
H. Field, Mary E. Akin, and Eliza- 



beth Whiting, assistant teachers. On 
May 29, 1825, Dr. John Willard 
died. On October 13, 1825, the com- 
mon council resolved to lease the 
seminary to Mrs. Emma Willard for 
five years and six months, from No- 
vember r. 1825. In 1826, the build- 
ing was lengthened forty feet, at the 
expense of the citv, and the rent in- 
creased to $700. The building used for 
musical instruction and laundering, 
now demolished, was erected in 1828 
at an expense of $3,500. In March 
and May, 1831, several adjacent plats 
of ground were purchased, extending 
the property to Ferry Street and lot 
115 and a part of lot 114 to the alley, 
on the west. In 1833, the main 
building was extended to the alley, 
at an expense of $5,000, and the rent 
increased to $1,100. In 1837, the 
institution began to receive money 
from the State Literature Fund, and 
that year acquired a plat of ground 
on Ferry Street. In 1838, Mrs. 
Emma Willard retired from the prin- 
cipalship of the seminary, leaving it 
to the care of her son, John H. Wil- 
lard, and his wife, Sarah L. Willard, 
both of whom had been associated 
with her in its management. In 1846, 
the trustees purchased a plat of 
ground, 30 by 80 feet, from the First 
Presbyterian Church, on the west side 
of the closed alley, running from 
Ferry to Congress streets, and erected 
an addition to the main building, 50 
by 50 feet. 

In 1871, the trustees perceiving the 
seminary was not obtaining the pat- 
ronage to which it was entitled, on 
account of their inability to secure 
sufficient moneys to renovate the 
building, to provide it with new fur- 
niture, and to purchase improved 
school-apparatus, determined to solicit 
aid of the citizens of Troy, should the 
city be induced to convey its entire 
interest in the property to the board. 
On February i, 1872, the committee 



271 



from the trustees, William Gurley, 
Joseph W. Fuller, and William Kemp, 
presented a request for the transfer of 
the buildings and grounds to the 
trustees, together with a memorial, 
signed by nine hundred and eighty 
citizens, sanctioning the convey- 
ance of the property. The action 
of the common council was so adverse 
that it was deemed judicious to offer 
the_ city $50,000 for the property. 
This was done, and by a vote of 11 
to 8 a resolution was passed, June 7, 
1872, by the common council, to sell 
the property to the trustees for $50,- 
000, "to be paid on or before the 
first day of May, 1873," authorizing 
the mayor to execute a contract to 
that effect. On June 12, 1872, the 
mayor, Thomas B. Carroll, signed 
the agreement, which set forth the 
condition that the property was "to 
be used only for school purposes." 
Although a subscription was at once 
circulated among the citizens to ob- 
tain the sum desired, little progress 
was made until William Gurley, with 
commendable zeal and indefatigable 
perseverance, undertook the task of 
personally soliciting subscriptions. 
He, later assisted by his brother, 
Lewis E. Gurley, finally succeeded in 
increasing the subscriptions to $52,- 
615.17, in sums ranging from $4 to 
$5,000. On May i, 1873, a check, 
signed by W. & L. E. Gurley, for 
$50,000, payable at the National Ex- 
change Bank, to the order of William 
Kemp, mayor of the city, secured the 
property to the seminary trustees. 
John H. Willard and his wife, Sarah 
L. Willard, having resigned their 
management of the institution at the 
close of the term in June, 1872, Miss 
Emily Wilcox became principal in 
September, 1872, who, with an effi- 
cient corps of teachers, has since suc- 
cessfully conducted the school. At 
considerable expense the buildings 
have been renovated and provided 



with new furniture and school ap- 
paratus. 

Sewing Machines.— 

Wheeler & Wilson Manufac- 
turing Company, Nos. 454 and 456 
Fulton Street. In 1849, Allen B. 
Wilson, of Pittsfield, Mass., complet- 
ed the construction of the first sewing 
machine invented by him. In 1850, 
it was patented. To manufacture 
others and sell them, he, with Nathan- 
iel Wilson, Alanson Warren and 
George P. Woodruff, formed the firm 
of Wheeler, Wilson & Co. Among 
the inviting fields for the immediate 
sale of the machines, Troy was se- 
lected. In the winter of 1851-52, 
Nathaniel Wheeler visited the city, 
and brought with him one of the 
plainly-made instruments, now so un- 
attractive in comparison with the elab- 
orately and tastefully constructed ma- 
chines sold by the company. For a 
number of days the ingenious inven- 
tion was exhibited at the Mansion 
House. With no little disappoint- 
ment, Mr. Wheeler discovered that a 
disbelief in the practicability of the 
use of the machine in making collars 
inclined the manufacturers of collars 
in the city to reject his overtures to 
have them subject the labor-saving in- 
struments to a trial in their factories. 
In a letter to the writer, he refers to 
the hesitancy of the collar makers in 
forming a different opinion respecting 
the sewing machines : " I particularly 
brought the attention of the manufac- 
turers of collars and cuffs to the ma- 
chines, most of whom shook their 
heads, doubting the practicability of 
stitching collars by machinery. Among 
my visitors was Jefferson Gardner, 
who seeming to be less skeptical, pa- 
tiently investigated the subject, and 
concluded to give the machines a 
trial." In the spring of 1852, several 
were sent him to be used in his collar 




WHELLER V WILSON MANUF. CO S BUILDING. 



273 



factory on King Street. His tests of 
their adaptability to collar-work were 
so satisfactory that he ordered others 
to be sent him. He afterward visited 
Bridgeport, Conn., and purchased a 
half-interest in the sale of the ma- 
chine in Rensselaer County. Besides 
using about thirty in his own factory, 
Jefferson Gardner in a short time dis- 
posed of a large number to the other 
collar manufacturers in the city. 
Strange as it is true, the Wheeler & 
Wilson sewing machines are the ones 
now mostly used in the manufacture 
of collars, cuffs and shirts in Troy. 
Since their introduction, not less than 
20,000 have been sold in this city and 
in other parts of Rensselaer County. 
Not a few persons have made them- 
selves comparatively rich by the use 
of one or more of these machines. 
In the salesroom of the Wheeler & 
Wilson Manufacturing Company, on 
Fulton Street, is a machine with 
which a woman certifies she realized 
$6,000. With one of the latest im- 
proved Wheeler & Wilson sewing ma- 
chines, a skilled operative, during a 
day's working hours, with steam pow- 
er, can stitch from 80 to 100 dozen 
collars. With steam power, an ac- 
complished machine operator can sew 
from 18 to 24 shirts in a day ; with 
foot-power, from g to 12. When un- 
der full speed, a new Wheeler & Wil- 
son sewing machine will make from 
1,500 to 2,000 stiiches in a minute. 
Besides machines for collar, cuff, and 
shirt-work, the company has others 
designed for stitching in leather, 
gloves, corsets, and hats, and others 
again for tailor and dressmaking- 
work. The new sewing machine " D 
10" will likely meet with a large sale, 
as it is fitted with a new device by 
which the upper thread is carried 
around the lower without meeting any 
resistance, nnd besides is constructed 
to use a bobbin containing twice the 
quantity of cotton on bobbins previ- 

36 



ously used. The latest and most inge- 
nious invention patented and sold by 
the Wheeler & Wilson Manufacturing 
Company is its new automatic button- 
hole machine. Almost in a second of 
time, with unequalled regularity and 
fineness of finish, this wonderful ma- 
chine stitches a button-hole, and by 
the (juick descent of a sharp knife 
cuts with the utmost precision the 
opening between the encircling stitch- 
es. An operative is said to have made 
in sixty hours 24,000 button-holes 
with one of these machines, and a 
woman in a day 6,000 button-holes in 
250 dozen of ladie>' collars, with an- 
other. The button-hole machines and 
the different sewing machines made 
by the company are on exhibition in 
its building on Fulton Street. The 
sales of all the Wheeler & Wilson 
Manufacturing Company's machines 
in Troy and its vicinity have for four- 
teen years been intrusted to Oscar 
Smith, who in 1872 took charge of 
the Troy office and salesrooms. His 
predecessors were Jefferson Gardner, 
who controlled the sale of the sewing 
machines from 1852 to 1855 ; John W. 
Armitage, from May 10, 1855 to July 
10, 1857; Armitage & Moseley, from 
July 10, 1857, to June 29, 1861 ; A. 
B. Elliott, from 1861 to April 27, 
1872. Previous to 1872, Oscar Smith 
had the agency at Albany. At the 
Troy salesrooms the company has for 
sale all the appurtenances necessary 
for the repair of broken parts of the 
machines, and also supplies thread, 
silk, and needles used in different 
kinds of sewing. 

Shirt Manufactories —One 

of the large businesses of Troy is that 
of the manufacture of shirts. Law- 
rence Van Valkenburgh is honored as 
the first person to engage extensively 
in it in the city. In 1845, he estab- 
lished a shirt factory on the southeast 
corner of Seventh and Elbow streets. 



274 



He continued in the business until 
1858. It lias now attained such pro- 
portions that it ranks with the city's 
chief industries. Its present magni- 
tude is partly disclosed by the fact 
that in the different manufactories 
not infrequently from twenty-five to 
thirty miles of muslin are cut into 
shirts in a day. About 4,000 persons, 
mostly girls and women, are employ- 
ed in Troy and its vicinity in making 
the goods, who annually receive in 



ent development in 1866, when Jus- 
tus Miller, A. P. Hamlin, and Joseph 
Wheelock, under the name of Ham- 
lin, Miller, & Co., began manufac- 
turing collars and cuffs at No. 464 
Fulton Street. On the dissolution of 
the partnership in the following year. 
Miller & Wheelock continued the 
business at the same place. About 
this time the firm began making 
shirts. In 1874 E. W. Bingham 
became a member of the firm, 




MILKKR, II ALL, \- HARIWLLL I.UILDING. 



wages not less than $800,000. The 
annual sales of shirts made in the 
city exceed $1,500,000. 

Miller, Hall, & Hartwell, shirt, 
collar, and cuff manufacturers, Nos. 
547 to 553 River Street. The dis- 
tinction of being the oldest as well as 
the largest shirt manufactory in the 
city gives no little local prominence 
to this establishment. The business 
of the prosperous firm had its incipi- 



which then took the name of Miller, 
Wheelock, & Co., manufacturing at 
No. 22 King Street. In"; 1875, 
the firm was succeeded by that of 
Miller & Bingham, at Nos. 421 and 
423 River Street. After the death of 
E. W. Bingham, in 1877, his widow 
retained an interest in the business 
until 1878. Under the name of 
Miller & Bingham, Justus Miller con- 
ducted the business at Nos. 421 and 
423 River Street until December 7, 



275 



1879. when the building was burned. 
Until July i, 1880, he occupied the 
building on the northeast corner of 
River and Hoosick streets, whence he 
moved into his new and commodious 
manufactory on the west side of River 
Street, north of Hoosick Street. In 
1884, the present firm was formed by 
Justus Miller, Frank B. Miller, (his 
son,) William L. Hall, and Charles E. 
Hartwell. The imposing building, 
six stories high, has a frontage of 100 
feet and a depth of 100. The fire- 
proof structure contains twelve rooms 
50 by 100 feet. In it are the laundry, 
the collar, cuff, and shiit de- 
partments. Besides giving employ- 
ment to a large number of persons in 
Troy, the enterprising firm distributes 
work to thousands of people in the 
surrounding country. Miller, Hall, 
& Hartwell have a factory at Hoosick 
Falls and one at Fairhaven, Vermont. 
The excellent goods made by the firm 
are purchased by numerous customers 
throughout the United States. 

Geo. B. Cluett, Bro., & Co., 
manufacturers of Monarch shirts, Nos. 
441 to 451 River Street. (See Col- 
lar AND Cuff Manufacturers.) 

George P. Ide & Co., shirt man- 
ufacturers, Ide Building. (See Col- 
lar AND Cuff Manufacturers.) 

Tim, Wallerstein, & Co., shirt 
manufacturers, Nos. 62 to 72 Sixth 
Street, began business in Troy. April 
I, 187S, and occupied, with Tim & 
Co., the building Nos. 57 and 59 
Federal Street. The members of the 
firm were Solomon and Louis Tim, 
E. Wallerstein, Max Herman, and 
J. O'Sullivan. In 1883, M. Ober was 
admitted a partner. The firm, with 
that of Tim & Co., moved, in 1881. 
to their present five-story, l)rick build- 
ing, on the east side of Sixtli Street, 
between Broadway and State Street. 
A fair conception of the firm's exten- 



sive manufacturing may be formed from 
the information that more than ten 
miles of muslin are cut into shirts in 
a day at the establishment. The firm 
enjoys with .Tim & Co. the advantages 
arising from its joint ownership of the 
laundry and paper-box manufactory in 
the Pine Building. The goods of the 
firm are distributed by jobbers in all 
parts of the United States. The firm 
has a shirt factory at Greenwich, and 
another at Shushan, N. Y. 

W. H. & A. D. RowE, shirt manu- 
facturers, Nos. 509, 511 and 513 Riv- 
er Street, west side, between Hutton 
and Hoosick streets. They engaged 
in the business of making collars, 
cuffs, and shirts, in March, 1872, oc- 
cupying the upper part of the build- 
ing on the southwest corner of River 
and Federal streets. In February, 
1884, they moved into the more com- 
modious, four-story, brick building 
now occupied by them. Some years 
ago they discontinued manufacturing 
collars and cufTs in order to apply 
themselves particularly to the business 
of making shirts. As others engaged 
in this great local industry, William 
H. and Andrew D. Rowe have with 
no little enterprise enlarged the sale 
of their goods, which are known to 
the trade as the " Crown Shirts." 
They are manufacturers' agents for 
the sale of knit underwear, men and 
women's shirts and drawers. 

Ball Bros., (John C. Ball,) manu- 
facturers of shirts of special orders. 
Hall Building, corner of River and 
First streets. 

Wilbur, Miller, & Wilbur, 
shirt manufacturers, northwest corner 
of Fulton and Front streets. (See 
Collar and Cufi- Manuiactur- 

ERS.) 

Sisters of St. Joseph. — One 

community on the east side of Tren- 



276 



ton Street, opposite Jackson Street; 
the other, at No. 147 North Second 
Street. 

Society, Rensselaer County 
Agricultural and Horticultu- 
ral, was organized by articles of as- 
sociation executed July 27, 1880. 
Since September, 1881, annual fairs 
have been held by the society at 
Rensselaer Park, Lansingburgh, ex- 
cept in 1885, when the September 
fair was omitted on account of the 
State fair being held at Albany. The 
society is in a highly prosperous con- 
dition. Its officers ae : Lewis E. 
Gurley, president ; Paul Cook, vice- 
president ; Thomas Rourk, secretary ; 
Shepard Tappen, treasurer. 

Solicitors of Patents. — 

William E. Hagan, expert and 
solicitor of patents since 1864, No, 
2ig River Street. 

George A. Mosher, solicitor of 
patents and counsellor in patent causes, 
No. 17 First Street. 

Austin F. Park, solicitor of pat- 
ents, room 31 Boardman Building, 
northeast comer of River and Fulton 
streets, engaged in the business in 

1855. 

Standard Electrical Test In- 
struments. — 

The Electric Manufacturing 
Company, office No. 311 River Street, 
has the distinction of making a par- 
ticular class of electrical test instru- 
ments of excellent quality and su- 
perior workmanship, at its works at 
Greenbush. The special adaptations 
and peculiar adjustments of the valu- 
able instruments have won the com- 
mendation of many prominent elec- 
tricians and scientists in the countrj-. 
The works were established at Troy, 
in March, 1884, and in the following 



June, the company was incorporated. 
The new works, at Greenbush, were 
erected in 1886 ; a commodious brick 
building, 55 by 80 feet. Robert J. 
Pratt, the manager, a graduate of the 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and 
of Johns Hopkins University, is an 
experienced electrician, and the de- 
signer of a number of important mech- 
anisms, which have been patented. 
The class of instruments manufactur- 
ed by the company embraces detector, 
horizontal astatic, tangent, marine, and 
reflecting galvanometers, also the im- 
proved Thomson reflecting and the 
Helmholtz gaugain galvanometers, 
resistance coils of all styles, keys of 
diff"erent designs, Pratt's patented 
speed indicator, the Bailey testing 
set, and other electric apparatus. 
The company has the exclusive right 
of manufacturing in this country the 
Woodhouse and Rawson volt amme- 
ters. Orders for any of the instru- 
ments are promptly filled. The com- 
pany has also a department for fine 
experimental work. Officers: J.Hyde 
Pratt, president ; George H. Ennis, 
secretary ; and Robert J. Pratt, elec- 
trician and manager. 

Steamboats. — The Clermont, 
the first steamboat to ply upon the 
Hudson, left New York on Friday 
morning, September 4, 1807, at 6 
o'clock, and arrived at Albany on the 
following morning. In making prac- 
ticable the navigation of the river 
by steamboats, Robert R. Livingston 
and Robert Fulton were granted by 
the legislature the exclusive privilege 
for thirty years of employing the 
boats invented by them in carrying 
passengers and freight on the Hudson. 

The first of their steamboats to ply 
upon the Upper Hudson was the Fire- 
Fly, which began conveying passen- 
gers between Albany and Troy in 
September, 18 12. The privilege 
granted to Livingston and Fulton 



2^7 



was, by act of legislature, passed 
March lo, 1820, transferred to the 
North River Steamboat Company, and 
extended to April 11, 1S38. The le- 
gality of this monopoly being ques- 
tioned. Chief Justice Marshall, of the 
Supreme Court, on March 2, 1824, 
decided it to be unconstitutional. A 
number of enterprising citizens of 
Troy immediately organized the Troy 
Steamboat Company, and contracted 
for the construction of a steamboat. 
Commenting on the purposes of the 
company, the Troy Sentinel oi March 
12, that year, remarked : 

" There will, doubtless, soon be a 
line of steamboats, to carry passen- 
gers, running from Troy to New 
York. When this line shall be in 
operation, Troy will be a better cen- 
ter of travel and business than any 
place on the river. The road from 
Troy to Schenectady is shorter and 
better than that to Albany ; the road 
from Troy to Lebanon Springs, by 
the Sandlake turnpike, is shorter, 
smoother, and more level than the 
turnpike from Albany. Troy is nearer 
to the great, fashionable watering 
places, Ballston and Saratoga, than 
Albany ; in short, such is the situation 
of this city, in reference not only to 
the canals [the Erie and Champlain] 
and the river, but the roads east, west, 
north, and south, that unless our 
citizens have lost their forecast and 
enterprise, it will be speedily manifest 
how extensive every event, connected 
in any way with the course of busi- 
ness and trade, has conspired to pro- 
mote the prosperity of this fortunate 
city." 

On Saturday, August 21, 1824, 
the steamboat, named the Chief Jus- 
tice Marshall, was launched at New 
York, and on Saturday, March I2, 
1825, arrived at the Ferry Street 
wharf; R. \V. Sherman, captain. 
About 40 cords of pine wood were 
consumed to generate steam in her 



copper boiler sufficient for her passage 
of sixteen hours, between the two 
cities A large fly-wheel equalized 
the movements of her machinery. 
Describing the appointments of the 
boat, the Troy Sentinel observed : 
" Her accommodations are spacious, 
airy, and neat ; and among the various 
improvements is a large reading room 
on the upper deck where the principal 
newspapers in the Union will be filed. 
Below is a very convenient ' washing- 
room,' where water is let in from the 
river, and bells placed leading to the 
barbers' and waiters' apartments." 
The use of pine wood for fuel doubt- 
less made the washing-room a great 
convenience for the passengers fre- 
quenting the upper deck. 

Shortly after the Chief Justice Mar- 
shall began to ply between Troy and 
New York, Samuel Gale, the post- 
master of the Troy office, received 
the following request from Postmaster- 
General John McLean: "I wish you 
would contract with the captain of 
the new steamboat to carry letters to 
New York, as well as the intermediate 
points from your ofiice, and to bring 
letters to your office. You can then 
stipulate to pay three cents for each 
letter that he carries. In that case 
the letters will be rated with the ordi- 
nary letter postage." 

The first steam ferry-boat began 
plying at the upper ferry, between 
West Troy and the city, in July, 1826. 

In 1844, eight steamboats, ten tow- 
ing steamboats, twenty-four freight 
barges, and twenty-seven sailing ves- 
sels, owned by residents of Troy, 
were engaged in the transportation of 
passengers and freight. 

At that time the offices of the Troy 
and New York Steamboat Association 
were in the building, No. 199 River 
Street. A long passage extended from 
River Street through the building to a 
broad flight of steps descending to the 
steamboat wharf below. The passen- 



278 



ger trains of the different railroads re- 
ceived and delivered passengers in 
front of the building. The Empire 
Captain Stephen R. Roe, and the Troy' 
Captain A. Gorham, were then the day- 
line boats; the Albany, Captain R. 
B. Macy, and the Swallow. Captain 
A. McLean, were the night-line boats. 
(See the writer's contribution in the 
Troy Daily Times, October 22 1879 
for the names of the other steamboats 
plying on the river from 1812 to 1879 ) 



Citizens' Steamboat Company of 
Troy. In the winter of 1871-72 
books for the subscription of stock 
for the establishment of a night-line 
of boats to ply between Troy and 
New York were opened in this city. 
On the evening of January 22, 1872 
the stockholders met in the Athemxum 
Buildmg and elected the first board 
of directors of the company. The 
directors afterwards met and elected 
Captain Charles W. Farnham, presi- 
dent ; Joseph Cornell, vice-president- 
and Thomas D. Abrams, secretary and 
treasurer. On February 19. that year, 
the articles of association of the com- 
pany were signed by the directors 
Capital stock, $250,000; 2,500 shares 
|ioo each. ' 

On January 14, that year, the 
Ihomas Powell and Sunnyside were 
purchased from Cornell, Horton & 
Co of Catskill ; the C. Vanderbilt 
and the Connecticut, which severally 
had been on the Troy line since 1850 
and 1866, were sold and afterward 
used for towing. After the loss of 
the Sunnyside, on December 1, 1875 
the company determined to bui'ld two 
boats which, in size and appointments, 
should surpass any of the boats pre- 
viously plying between Troy and New 
Vork. The contract for the construc- 
tion of one was given to John English 
& Son, of Greenport. L. I. On Ian 
uary 2, 1876. the building of the boat 
was begun, and on April i, she was 



launched and named the City of Troy 
On the morning of June 15, that 
year, she arrived at the steamboat 
landing, at the foot of Broadway 
Captain L. D. Deming, formerly of 
tne C Vanderbilt, commanding her 
Length. 300 feet ; extreme breadth 
70; depth of hold, 10; tonnage, i 650' 
diameter of engine cylinder, 60 inches- 
stroke. 12 feet; state rooms, 112 -' 
ladies cabin berths, 40 ; gentlemen's 
cabin berths, 210. Previous to the 
City of Troy taking her place on the 
line, the Twilight, Captain C. D. 
Hancox, substituted the Sunnyside. 
Ihe Saratoga was launched from the 
yard of John English & Son, on March 
26, 1877, and arrived at Troy on June 
^3. that year ; Captain T. D. Abrams. 
of the Ihomas Powell, commanding 
her. Length. 300 feet ; extreme 
breadth, 68 ; depth of hold, lo ; ton- 
nage, 1,550 ; diameter of engine cyl- 
inder, 56 inches ; stroke, 12 feet - state 
rooms, 113; ladies' cabin berth's, 40- 
gentlemen's, 210. The engines of the 
two boats were made by G W Quin 
tard of New York. 

The distance from Troy to New 
York IS about 156 miles, and is trav- 
ersed by the boats in 10 hours. They 
make the passage nightly, except on 
Saturdays, alternately leaving pier 44 
North River, at the foot of Christo- 
pher Street, at 6 p. m . and the land- 
ing, at the foot of Broadway, Troy 
about 7:30 (on Sundays at 6) p. m' 
Captain Thomas D. Abrams has had 
the command of the Saratoga since 
1877, and Captain G. D. Wolcott that 
of the City of Troy since 1878. 

The officers of the company are 
Joseph Cornell, president ; George W 
Horton. vice-president; Thomas D.' 
Abrams. secretary and treasurer; and 
George W. Gibson, general passenger 
agent. ** 

The Belle Horton, built in 1880 
IS used by the company for excursions 
and as a tender to the large boats. 



279 



Albany and Troy Steamboat 
Company. Daily line; boats W. M. 
Whitney and T. G. Sanders. Land- 
ings, foot of Maiden Lane, Albany, 
and fool of State Street, Troy. 

Steam Engines.— 

William Coutie & Sons, manu- 
facturers of compound steam engines, 
Nos. lo to. 14 Front Street, near Fed- 
eral. The high favor in which Cou- 
tie's compound steam engines are held 
by those using them is a public attes- 
tation of their excellence and ser- 
viceableness. They embody a sim- 
plicity of construction and an eco- 
nomic action which make them pre- 
ferred to all others for factory work. 
The high and low pressure engines 
mJlde by tlie firm disclose in their 
scientific mechanism the secret of 
their long popularity. The compound 
enuine running at the works, made in 
1862, is the oldest in America. Wil- 
liam Coutic engaged in the business 
in 1850, in the building, on the south- 
east corner of Mechanic (now Front) 
and Federal streets, burned in the fire 
of 1862. That year, he purchased the 
t^ite of the present establishment, and 
erected the three-story, brick build- 
ing, 50 by 60 feet. The firm of Wil- 
liam Coutie & Sons (William and 
George), also makes as a specialty 
tools for stove manufacturers. 



StephentOWn, one of the towns 
of Rensselaer County, was erected by 
the act dividing the counties into 
towns, passed March 7, 178S. The 
village of Stephentown, on the Leb- 
anon Springs Railroad, has a popula- 
tion of 200. North Stephentown is 
also a station on the same road. 
West Stephentown, South Stephen- 
town, Stephentown Center, and Ste- 
phentown Flatts are small places in 
the town. 



Population of the town: 1790, 
6,795 ; iSoo, 4,968 ; 1810, 4,567 ; 
1815,2,640; 1820,2,592; 1825,2,703; 
1830, 2,716; 1835,2,528; 1840,2,753; 
1845,2,548; 1850,2,622; 1855,2,397; 
1S60, 2,311; 1S65. 2,026; 1S70, 2,133; 
1875,2,047; 1880,1,986. 

Stone. — 

Don & McDonald (John Don and 
John McDonald), cutters of stone- 
trimmings for buildings, and dealers 
in brown and Ohio stone, and flagging. 
Front Street, near Federal. Firm 
formed in 1882. 

Stove Dealers — 

Reardon & Ennis. (John Reardon 
and George H. Ennis), retail agents 
for the sale of the Bussey & McLeod 
Stove Company's stoves and ranges, 
No. 311 River Street. 

W. A. Sherman, No. 259 River 
Street. (See McCarthy Building.) 

Stove Linings and Fire Brick. 

Harvey S. McLeod, proprietor of 
the Troy Stove Linmg and Fire Brick 
Works, southwest corner of First and 
Monroe streets. In 1871, after the 
death of Jacob Henry, who engaged in 
the manufacture of fire brick in 
Albany in 1825, the works were es- 
tablished at tlieir present location. 
In 1882, Harvey S. McLeod purchased 
them of Bacon & Henry. By ad- 
ditions to the other buildings and the 
erection of new ones, he greatly en- 
larged the establishment. By a new 
process in the treatment and manipu- 
lation of infusible clay, the stove 
linings and fire brick made by him 
have obtained a wide popularity with 
stove manufacturers, not only in Troy 
and its vicinity but in distant places 
in the country, especially in the 
western states. The works have a 



281 



caya .ily of producing weekly 20,000 
tels of stove linings and 10,000 fire 
brick. The office building is No 357 
First Street, immediately south of the 
w(>jks. The street cars cross Monroe 
Street, a block east of the establish- 
ment Fire brick of the best (juality 
fr,r cupolas, blast furnaces, and boiler 
settings are also made at the works. 

Stove Manufacturers. — Stoves 
were first made in Troy for the trade 
in 1821. In 1829, those cast at the 
lwo foundries in the city were valued 
nt $120,000, In 1855, there were seven 
foundries employing 670 men, whose 
annual wages aggregated .^216,000. 
The value of the 75,000 stoves made 
by them exceeded $1,000,000. In 
1S75, twenty-three stove establish- 
n ents gave employment to 2,115 
workmen, who earned that year 
$1,715,000. The value of the stoves 
sold was $4,oi2,ouo. In 1885, about 
2,000 persons weie employed in seven 
foundries, whose wages were estimated 
to be not less than $1,000,000. The 
value of the stoves exceeded $2,500,- 
coo. In perfection of casting, beauty 
cf design, and scientific construction, 
the stoves, ranges, and furnaces made 
in Troy are not surpassed by those 
manufactured elsewhere. The skill 
and experience of the employers and 
the intelligence and enterprise of the 
manufacturers have always been im- 
portant factors in the successful com- 
petition which Troy has maintained in 
finding markets in all parts of the 
country for the thousands of stoves 
sent from her foundries. They have 
also been sent to distant destinations : 
England, Germany, Turkey, China, 
Japan, Australia, Sandwich Islands, 
the West Indies, and South America. 

Fuller & Warren Company, 
Clinton Stove Works, west side of 
River Street, between Madison and 
Monroe streets. Tlie buildings of the 

37 



extensive est.'ddishments cover an area 
of six acres. In the different de- 
partments about r,2oo persons arc 
employed, earning annually $480,000. 
Not less than 60,000 stoves, ranges, 
and furnaces are yearly made at the 
works. They are not only widely 
sold in the United States, but many 
are sent to foreign countries. In 
Chicago, the company's sales-build- 
ing. No. 56 Lake Street, is a five- 
story, brick structure. The five-story 
warehouse, 100 by 150 feet, on the 
North Pier, was one of three build- 
ings, ou the north side of the city, 
which escaped the ravages of the 
great fire of 1871. The branch 
house at Cleveland, Ohio, is Nos. 62 
and 64 River Street. The principal 
agencies of the company are at No. 
236 Water Street, New York ; No. 44 
Union Street, Boston ; northeast cor- 
ner of Light and Lombard streets, 
Baltimore ; and No. 1045 Market 
Street, San Francisco. The site of 
the Clinton Stove Works has been 
occupied since 1846 by buildings in 
which stoves have been made. The 
greater part of it was purchased Oc- 
tober 8, 1845, by Johnson & Cox, who 
first erected a foundry on it. The 
succeeding firms have been Johnson, 
Cox, & Fuller, 1850; Cox, Warren, 
Morrison, & Co., 1854; Fuller, War- 
ren, & Morrison, 1855 ; Fuller, War- 
ren, & Co., 1859; and the Fuller & 
Warren Company, incorporated, De- 
cember 31, 1 88 1. The officers of the 
company are Joseph W. Fuller, presi- 
dent ; Walter P. Warren, vice-presi- 
dent ; Gurdon G. Wolfe, secretary ; 
Herbert A. Viets, treasurer ; and A. 
H. Eaton, superintendent of con- 
struction. 

BussEY & McLeod Stove Com- 
pany, offices, salesrooms, and foun- 
dry east side of Oakwood Avenue, 
near its intersection with Tenth 
Street. Beginning with a small plant 
in 1863, the works have been extend- 








/^s«{a "_ 



,(" 



283 



ed over a plat of three acres. The 
company employs 350 workmen, mak- 
ing annually 20,000 stoves and melt- 
ing iSoo tons of iron in the product. 
The " Gold Coin " and " Gold Medal " 
stoves and ranges made by the com- 
pany have high commendation in the 
United States, east of Illinois. The 
firm of Bussey, McLeod, & Co., was 
formed in 1863 by Esek Bussey, 
Charles A. McLeod, and J. O. Mer- 
riam. Seveial years later, Rufus 
Lape was admitted a partner ; the 
name of the firm being unchanged. 
After the death of J. O. Merriam and 
Rufus Lape, the other two members 
of the firm continued the business 
until December 30, 1882, when the 
Bussey & McLeod Stove Company 
was formed, of which Esek Bussey is 
president ; Charles A. McLeod, first 
vice-president ; T. Henry Bussey, 
second vice-president ; Charles M. 
Austin, treasurer ; John W. Rorabach, 
secretary, and L. D. Streeter, super- 
intendent of construction, 

BuRDETT, Smith, Sl Co., office and 
salesrooms No. 253 River Street, Bur- 
dett Building ; foundry east side of 
Canal Street, near Vail Avenue. L. 
Potter & Co., 1853; L. Potter, 1858; 
Potter & Co., 1859; Potter & Paris, 
1862; Burdett, Paris, & Co., 1868; 
Burdett, Potter, Smith, & Co., 
1869; Burdett, Smith, & Co., 1871. 
Edward A. Burdett and W. Stone 
Smith formed the present firm in 1883. 

George W. Swett & Co., office 
and salesroom. No. 219 River Street; 
Empire Foundry, northwest and south- 
west corners of Second and Ida streets. 
Anson Atwood, 1841 ; Atwood&Cole, 
1844; Atwood, Cole, & Crane, 1846; 
Pease, Keeney, & Co., 1848; Clark, 
Keeney, & Co., 1850; Felton, Kee- 
ney, & Co., 185 1 ; Swett, Quimby, & 
Co., 1852; Swett, Quimby, & Perry, 
1867; Swett, Quimby, & Co., 18S3 ; 



George W. Swett & Co., (Fred. W. 
Swett), January i, 1886. 

Co-oi'ERATivE Stove Works, 
southwest corner of River Street and 
Glen Avenue. Co-operative Iron 
Founders' Association, 1866; Troy 
Co-operative Foundry Company, 
1871 ; Co-operative Stove Works of 
Troy, 1878. 

Andrew B. Fales, stove works, 
Nos. 279 and 293 North Third Street. 

A. M. Stratton. 1835; James Wager, 
1839 ; Wager & Dater, 1844 ; Wager 
& Pratt. 1847 ; Wager, Pratt, cS: Co., 
1849 ; Wager, Richmond, & Smith, 
1852 ; James Wager, 1855 ; Wager & 
Fox, 1856; Wager & Fales, i860; 
Wager, Fales, & Co., 1869; Andrew 

B. Fales, 1872. 

Marcus L. Filley, stove manu- 
facturer, No. 287 River Street. (See 
Green Island.) 

BURTis & Mann, stove manufac- 
turers, office and salesroom, No. 231 
River Street ; foundry, (J. Gould & 
Co.,) southwest corner of North Third 
and North streets. The firm, (O. F. 
Burtis and H. R. Mann,) was formed 
May 29, 1S83. It succeeded to the 
business of Potter & Co., and of H. S. 
Church. 

The Victor Stove Company, 
manufacturers of stoves. No. 399 
River Street. 

J. C. Henderson & Co.. manu- 
facturers of the Henderson dome, 
cone. Lively Times, and wrought iron 
furnaces, No. 195 River Street. The 
senior member of the firm, J. C. Hen- 
derson, became a member of the firm 
of Shavor, Henderson, & Graff, in 
1869 ; Sheldon, Greene, & Co., 1870; 
Shavor & Henderson, in I S72. Onthe 
dissolution of the last firm, in 1876, 
he individually engaged in the manu- 
facture of his popular furnaces, in 




;ai;ii!;iiii:!:iiiii:!:ii5;:iii>iaii;a:;iiitiiiii«i[iiiii[iiiii;!iiiM!i»«:iitii!iBi!;D;iiiiiiiiiiiu 



285 



which he continued until his son, 
James A., in April, 1885, became 
associated with him in the business. 



Stove Polish Manufacturers. 

C. W. Hart & Co.. (H. B. Dum- 
mer,) manufacturers of the funnel- 
paste stove polish, granite cement, 
indestructible stove putty, petrified 
furnace cement, and shine-shine starch 
polish, Nos. 652 and 654 River Street. 
Firm formed March i, 1886. 

Street Railways. — Stages were 
the first public conveyances to cany 
passengers between Troy and Lan- 
singburgh. On April 21, 1789, a 
stage began running daily from Lan- 
singburgh through Troy to Albany. 
The faie for ihe round trip was four 
shillings. In 1794, another stage was 
put on the route. In 1831, a line of 
stages began running half-hourly be- 
tween Troy and Albany. In October, 
that year, 12,589 passengers were 
conveyed between the two places. 
In 1832, a line of stages began run- 
ning hourly between Troy and Lan- 
singburgh. From year to year the 
number of conveyances was increased 
to shorten the intervals between their 
trips. 

- Troy & Lansingburgh Railroad. 
Under the act authorizing the forma- 
tion of railroad companies, passed 
April 2, 1850, the Troy & Lansing- 
burgh Railroad Company was organ- 
ized. The articles of association, 
» signed August 20, i860, were filed 
September 6, that year. The pur- 
pose of the company's organization 
was to construct, maintain and operate 
a railroad "from some point in the 
village of Lansingburgh to some point 
in the city of Troy." Capital stock, 
f 100,000; shares, $1,000; each fioo. 
On August 20, i860, the common 
council permitted the company to con- 



struct a single railroad track from 
the north bounds of the city through 
River Street to Adams, through 
Adams to Second, through Second to 
Greenbush Highway to a point near 
the bridge across the Wynants Kill. 
On February 19, 1861, the first offi- 
cers of the company were elected : 
Thomas Symonds, president; John A. 
Griswold, vice-president; Miles Beach, 
secretary and treasurer; and William 
Barton, engineer- On Monday after- 
noon, July 15, that year, the work of 
constructing the road was begun at 
the north side of the Union Railroad 
crossing, on River Street, opposite 
the Manufacturers' Bank ; William 
Barton, the engineer, first formally 
breaking the ground with a pick. On 
August 16, the collection of tolls at 
the gate on the plank road, between 
Troy and Lansingburgh, was discon- 
tinued. The first car ran on the road 
on August 29. It was drawn by one 
horse, and furnished with a fare box. 
A few days thereafter six cars were 
running on the road. In November, 
eighty trips were made daily. The 
completion of the road, in 1862, was 
a matter of considerable pride to the 
people of Troy, it being accomplished 
before the construction of a street 
railway in Albany. In the summer 
of 1862, the road was extended to 
Waterford. The length of the road, 
mostly two tracks, from the terminus 
at the Wynants Kill to the one in 
Waterford, is 6 j6_i_3_ miles. The cars 
on the line are painted red. The 
roads of the Troy & Cohoes, the Lan- 
singburgh & Cohoes, and the Water- 
ford & Cohoes railroad companies 
are leased and operated by the Troy 
& Lansingburgh Railroad Company. 
Its depots and stables are at the 
east side of the Union bridge, Lan- 
singburgh ; on the north side of the 
road, on Simmons' Island, Cohoes ; 
at Nos. 103 and 105 River Street, 
and on the southwest corner of River 



286 



and Division streets, Troy. The 
general office is in the building, No. 
205 River Street. The company em- 
ploys 206 men, owns 95 cars, and 468 
horses. In 1885, the company carried 
on the different lines 5,220,315 pas- 
sengers. The officers of the company 
are William Kemp, president; Charles 
Cleminshaw, vice-president ; and 
Joseph J. Hagen, secretary and treas- 
urer. 

North Troy and Iron Works 
Line. — On January 2g, 1867. the 
common council permitted the Troy 
& Lansingburgh Railroad Company 
to construct a railroad extending from 
a point in Vandenburgh Street, in the 
south part of the city, along Mill 
Street to intersect the track of the 
Troy & Lansingburgh Railroad at the 
Wynants Kill bridge, and to diverge 
from its track on the Greenbush High- 
way, passing through Fourth, Con- 
gress, and Third streets northward to 
Fulton Street to intersect the Troy 
& Lansingburgh Railroad track on 
River Street. Although having pet- 
mission to extend the line farther 
northward along King, North Second, 
Rensselaer, North Third, and Mount 
streets to the main track on River 
Street, the company only constructed 
the road northward as far as the in- 
tersection of Fulton and River streets. 
The company operated the road with 
no little loss of capital from June 29, 
1867, to December 30, 1870, when it 
was abandoned. 

Troy & Cohoes Railroad. The 
Troy & Cohoes Railioad Company 
was organized February 11, 1862. 
The road extends from River Street, 
at Bridge Avenue, crossing the Rens- 
selaer & Saratoga Railroad bridge, run- 
ning through George and Tibbits 
streets. Green Island, Saratoga, and 
Mohawk streets, Cohoes, to the ter- 
minus, near the intersection of Rem- 
sen and Mohawk streets. The first 



car ran on the road, Saturday, Oc- 
tober 10, 1863. Length of road, 3^ 
miles. The cars of this line are 
painted white, and run to Ferry 
Street, Troy. 

Lansingburgh & Cohoes Rail- 
road. This road, constructed in 1880, 
extends from the intersection of Second 
Avenue and Twelfth Street, Lansing- 
burgh, across the Hudson River and 
Mohawk River bridges and Van 
Schaick and Simmons islands, through 
Ontario Street to its intersection with 
the track of the Troy & Cohoes railroad, 
on Mohawk Street Cohoes. The cars 
began running on the road, August 18, 
1880. Length, i^Yth "^i'^^. The 
cars of this line are painted blue, and 
run from the Iron Works, via Lan- 
singburgh, to Cohoes. 

Waterford & Cohoes Railroad. 
This road extends from the intersec- 
tion of Remsen and Ontario streets, 
Cohoes, along Ontario Street to 
Saratoga Street, thence northward 
along Saratoga Street, crossing the 
bridge across the Mohawk River, 
thence along the Waterford Road to 
the village, to the terminus of the 
Troy & Lansingburgh Railroad Com- 
pany's road. The cars began run- 
ning on the road, August 20, 1884. 
Length, ly^oV miles. From the green 
color of the cars, it is known as the 
Green Line. 

Sunday School Union, The 
Rensselaer County, was organ- 
ized in 1832 and incorporated in 1883. 
Its objects as defined in the revised 
constitution of the union, January 19, 
i860, are " to concentrate the efforts 
of friends of Sunday-schools ; to dis- 
seminate useful information on the 
subject ; to circulate moral and re- 
ligious publications, and to establish 
Sunday-schools wherever it may be 
deemed practicable and expedient." 



287 



The society has a May anniversary, 
and a number of conventions are held 
each year in different parts of the 
county. The total enrollment of per- 
sons belonging to the Sunday-schools 
in the county in 18S5 was 30,063. 
The number of persons, between the 
ages of 5 and 21 years, in the county, 
not connected with a Sunday-school, 
was reported to be that year, 18,675, 
The ofhcers of the society are Lewis 
E. Gurley, president ; James H. Kel- 
logg, corresponding secretary ; and J. 
Spencer Garnsey, treasurer. 

Tailors, Merchant.— 

James B. Caldwell, (successor to 
A. Montague & Co.,) merchant tailor. 
No. 6 Times Building, northeast cor- 
ner of Broadway and Third Street. 
The business was established in 1839 
by Bernard Montague, at No. 7 Can- 
non Place. 

D.wiD Bastable, merchant tailor, 
No. I, Troy House, intersection of 
First and River streets. The business 
was established by Rundell & Leon- 
ard, in 1S42, at No. 194 River Street. 
D. Bastable succeeded to it, Febru- 
ary I, 1876. 

Ernest W. Brieger, merchant 
tailor. No. 67 Third Street, began 
business in 1874. 

Theodore A. Byram, merchant 
tailor, No. 4 Keenan Building, Broad- 
way. 

Manny & Hardy, (J. L. Manny 
and W. D. Hardy,) merchant tailors, 
No. 36 Third Street. Firm formed 
March i, 1879. 

Telegraph OflB.ces — About the 

middle of the month of June, 1846, 
the planting of posts for the extension 
of the wire of the Morse magnetic 
telegraph line between Troy and 
Whitehall began in the city. The 



room on the north side of the base- 
ment of the Athenaum Building was 
then rented for the office of the com- 
pany. Moses Johnson was the first 
superintendent of the Troy station, 
who was succeeded on August 7, that 
year, by William C. Buell. On Fri- 
day morning, July 24, the first tele- 
gram sent from Troy was transmitted 
to Saratoga Springs. On Thursday, 
August 6, the first message from Troy 
to Buffalo was telegraphed. On Sep- 
tember 9, that year, the New York 
and Buffalo line was used for the first 
time. On October 6, the first telegram 
from New York to Troy, via Boston, 
was received. 

American District Telegraph 
Company. Messenger service. Main 
office. Athenaeum Building, No. 10 
First Street ; branch office. No. 371 
River Street. 

Baltimore & Ohio Telegraph 
Company. Office, No. 278 River 
Street. 

Mutual Union Telegraph Com- 
pany. Office, No. 298 River Street. 

Western Union Telegraph Com- 
pany. Office, No. 249 River Street ; 
branch offices. No. 371 River Street, 
and Union Railroad Depot. 

Telephone Company of 
Troy, Commercial, rooms 29 
and 45 Boardman Building, north- 
east corner of River and Fulton 
streets. On February 28, 1878, the 
Troy Telephone Dispatch Company 
was organized. It began business in 
an office on the second floor of the 
building. No. 280 River Street. The 
articles of association of the Commer- 
cial Telephone Company of Troy 
were filed December 30, 1879. First 
officers: Charles S. Woodruff, M. D., 
president ; Gardner Earl, secretary ; 
John F. Porter, treasurer. The com- 



288 



pany purchased the business, instru- 
ments, and rights of the Troy Tele- 
phone Dispatch Company, and occu- 
pied its office. In May, 1880, the 
Commercial Company moved to the 
Boardman Building, occupying rooms 
on the third and fourth floors. Be- 
ginning with less than a hundred in- 
struments, with from five to thirty on 
the circuit of a single wire, the com- 
pany with its exchanges now serves 
more than 1,300 renters of telephones, 
and has control of 800 miles of wires. 
The central office is connected with 
branch offices in West Troy, Cohoes, 
Waterford, and Lansingburgh, and 
with more than 200 villages and cities, 
some of which are more than a hundred 
miles distant from Troy. Present 
officers of the company : Gardner 
Earl, president ; George P. Ide, vice- 
president ; Abram N. Belcher, secre- 
tary and treasurer. 

Temperance Societies.— 

Diamond Rock Temple of Hon- 
or, No. 35, meets on the first and 
third Monday evenings of each month 
at Temple of Honor Hall, No, 269 
River Street. 

Father Albino's Temperance 
Society meets on Friday evenings in 
St. Peter's school-room. 

Father Matthew Parent, T. A. 
B. Society, No. i, meets in Tem- 
perance Hall, St. Mary's Avenue. 

Iron Works Division, No. 52, 
Sons of Temperance, meets on Satur- 
day evenings at Mechanics' Hall, 
Iron Works. 

Troy Christian Temperance 
Union, meets on Sunday afternoons 
and on Tuesday evenings at its rooms 
in the building, Nos. 386 and 388 
River Street. 

Young Men's Father Matthew 
T. A. B. Society, No. 2, meets on 
Tuesday evening in St. Mary's Church. 



Templars, Independent Or- 
der of Good,— 

Phoenix Lodge, No. 300, meets 
on Friday evening, in Orange Hall, 
No. 9 First Street. 

Progressive Lodge, No. 161, 
meets on Wednesday evening, in Ran- 
ken Hall, Albia. 

Templars of Temperance, 
Royal.— 

Trojan Council, No. 135, meets 
on the first Tuesday evening of each 
month at No. 273 River Street. 

E. H. Abbott Council meets in 
Temple of Honor Hall, on the first 
and third Wednesday evenings of each 
month. 

James A. Garfield Council, No. 
161, meets on the second and third 
Wednesday evenings of each month, 
in Mechanics' Hall, Iron Works. 

Tibbits' Cadets, 21st Separate 
(Infantry) Company. N. G. S. N. Y., 
was organized in February, 1877, and 
on Thursday evening, March i, that 
year, was mustered in as the Seventh 
Separate Company, N. G. S. N. Y., at 
the old State Armory, on River Street, 
by Major George H. Otis; 112 men 
comprising the company. First offi- 
cers : Jacob H. Patten, captain ; John 
Mearns, first lieutenant ; John E. 
Sharp, second lieutenant. The com- 
pany's quarters in the armory, on the 
southeast corner of Ferry and River 
streets, are rooms 4, 5, and 6, on the 
first floor, east side of the hall. Pres- 
ent officers : Samuel Foster, captain ; 
Lawrence Buckley, first lieutenant ; 
Merrill Dunspaugh, second lieutenant. 

Tibbits' Veteran Corps, 12th 
Separate (Infantry) Company, N. G. 
S. N. v., was organized on Monday 
evening, March 20, 1876, at Pythian 



289 



Castle, State Street. The company 
was composed of soldiers who had 
served in the late civil war, and, at 
the time of the organization of the 
corps, were members of Post George 
L. Willard, No. 34, G. A. R. Hav- 
ing taken its name in honor of Briga- 
dier-General William B. Tibbits, the 
corps, on its first public parade, May 
30, that year, was presented with a 
stand of colors by him. First offi- 
cers : Joseph Egolf, commander ; I. 
Seymour Scott, first vice-commander ; 
Timothy Quinn, second vice-com- 
mander. In December, 1884, the 
corps ceased to exist. 

Theatres. — (See Grand Cen- 
tral Theatre, Griswold Opera 
House. Rand's Opera House.) 

Tide at Troy.— The tides in 
the Hudson River are not directly 
produced by the influence of the sun 
and moon. They are derivative tides ; 
parts of great tide waves of the Atlan- 
tic flowing along the slightly inclined 
bed of the river. They ascend the 
river to the state dam, in front of the 
,city, distant 175 miles from the ocean. 
On November 17, 1S77, Lieut. J. H. 
Willard, U. S. Engineers, furnished 
the writer with the following tide 
memoranda : 

The mid-tide difference of water level 
between Albany and Governor's Is- 
land is 2.61 feet. 

The mean rise and fall of tide at 
Governor's Island is 4.38 feet. 

The mean rise and fall of tide at 
Albany is 2.32 feet. 

The mean high water level at Al- 
bany is 1.58 feet above that at Gov- 
ernor's Island. 

The mean low water level at Al- 
bany is 3.64 feet above that at Gov- 
ernor's Island. 

The mean rise and fall of tide at 
South Troy (Iron Works) is 1.92 feet. 

38 



The mean high water level at South 
Troy is 1. 73 feet above that at Gov- 
ernor's Island. 

The mean low water level at South 
Troy is 4.16 feet above that at Gov- 
ernor's Island. 

Tobacconists and Cigar Man- 
ufacturers. 

FiTZPATRiCK & Draper, manufac- 
turers ■ of fine Havana and other 
cigars, and wholesale dealers in leaf 
and manufactured tobacco, Nos. 286 
River Street and 9 and 11 Third 
Street. The members of this well- 
known firm, Philip Fitzpatrick and 
Frederick E. Draper, formed the part- 
nership. September 8, 1869, and en- 
gaged in the business at No. 286 
River Street. Requiring more space 
for the transaction of their large busi- 
ness, they extended their shipping de- 
partment, in February, 1881, to Third 
Street. Their cigar manufactory is a 
five-story, brick building, near the 
northeast corner of Front and Grand 
Division streets. 

William A. Lent & Co., (William 
A. Lent and Richard T. Black) 
wholesale tobacconists and cigar man- 
ufacturers. Golden Age Cigar Man- 
ufactory, No. 310 River Street. Es- 
tablished in 1877. 

Little & Company, (Samuel Lit- 
tle and C. H. Harden), cigar manu- 
facturers and dealers in tobacco, No. 
341 River Street. Established by S. 
Little in 1862. 

Transportation Lines.— 

Merchants' Dispatch Transpor- 
tation Company, A. H. Purdy, agent. 
No. 215 River Street. 

Murray's Line, (old line of Troy 
barges), ship daily from pier 6, East 
River, New York, and foot of State 
Street, Troy ; Murray & Birge, pro- 
prietors. Edward F. Murray. No. 



390 



igi River Street, Troy; John T. 
Birge, 19 Coenties Slip, New York. 

Philadelphia, Albany and Troy 
Line, regular steam and inland route 
via canal. Edward F. Murray, agent. 
No. 191 River Street. 

Western Transit Company, A. 
H. Purdy, agent. No, 215 River 
Street. 

Tricycles and Bicycles.— 

Fred. P. Edmans, tricycles, bicy- 
cles and their sundries. No. 606 
King Street, near River Street. Es- 
tablished 1881. 

Trojan Wheelmen, organized 
1886, meet first Wednesday of each 
month. Headquarters, Fulton Mar- 
ket Hall. C. E. Betts, president; 
R. C. Marshall, secretary; C. E. 
Wilson, treasurer. 

Troy. — When the first emigrants 
from the New England states began 
settling on the Upper Hudson, the 
land between the Poesten and Pisca- 
wen kills was the property of three 
Dutch farmers. Matthias Van der 
Heyden owned the south part of it, 
lying between the Poesten Kill and 
Division Street ; Jacob D. Van der 
Heyden, the middle, between Division 
and Grand Division streets ; and 
Jacob I. Van der Heyden, the north, 
between Grand Division Street and 
the Piscawen Kill, a small stream run- 
ning to the river north of Mount 
Olympus. 

The ferry between the middle farm 
and Steene Hoeck, (Stony Point), op- 
posite, on the west side of the river, 
had been in the possession of the Van 
der Heyden family from the year 1707, 
(see page 2), and had long borne the 
name of Van der Heyden's Ferry. 
From it, the site of Troy derived its 
early name. Ferry Hook. 



Jacob I. Van der Heyden's farm- 
house was a brick building, erected in 
1756, on the east side of the River 
Road, (now River Street), a short dis- 
tance north of the Hoosick Road, (now 
Hoosick Street). It now forms a part 
of the residence of Samuel Clexton, 
No. 548 Kiver Street. 

Jacob D. Van der Heyden, the pa- 
troon, as he was called by the first set- 
tlers, lived at the southeast corner of 
Feiry and River streets, in a wooden 
building, until about the year 1794, 
when he occupied his new brick man- 
sion, near the southwest corner of 
Grand Division and Eighth streets, 
burned in the fire of May 10, 1862. 

Matthias Van der Heyden's farm- 
house was a two-story, wooden build 
ing, standing near the intersection of 
Second and Division streets. In 1786, 
he rented his brick building, erected 
in 1752, on the east side of the River 
Road, to Captain Stephen Ashley, 
who opened it as an inn. The work 
of demolishing this quaint landmark, 
on the southeast corner of River and 
Division streets, was begun on Mon- 
day, June 28, 1886. 

Derick, or Dirk Van der Heyden, 
the father of Matthias, Dirk or Dick, 
and Abraham, lived on the southeast 
corner of the alley, on the south side 
of Division Street, between First and 
Second streets. His son. Dirk, or 
" Moogen Dick," as he was called, 
lived at the head of Liberty Street, 
on the western side of Mount Ida. 
Abraham Van der Heyden lived on 
the southeast corner of Liberty and 
River streets. 

South of the Poesten Kill was the 
farm of Stephen I. Schuyler, who, on 
May 28, 1771, purchased the property, 
formerly known as the " Poesten Bow- 
erij," from Sarah Maginnis, the widow 
of Teddy Maginnis. The Schuyler 
homestead stood for many years 
near the southwest corner of First 
and Madison streets. 



292 



The farm of Jan Van Buren ex- 
tended from the Schuyler farm to the 
nortli bank of the Wynants Kill. 

Among the first of the New Eng- 
land people to settle on the site of 
Troy was Benjamin Thurber, who, 
about the year 1786, leased a plat of 
ground, on the west side of the River 
Road, from Jacob I. Van der Heyden, 
and erected on it a small building. 
On June 4, 1787, the following adver- 
tisement appeared in the Northern 
Centinel, published at Lansingburgh : 

" Benjamin Thurber Hereby ac- 
quaints the Public that he continues 
to sort his New Cash Store, at the 
Sign of the Bunch of Grapes, at the 
Fork of Hoosick Road, near Jacob 
Vanderheyden's, with East. West 
India, and European Goods of all 
kinds. For which he will receive, in 
lieu of Cash, black salts. Shipping 
Furs, Wheat, Corn, Rye, Butter, 
Cheese, Flax and Flax Seed, Tallow, 
Hog's lard, Gammons, Pork, Bees'- 
Wax, and old Pewter. He also con- 
tinues to receive ashes, as usual, to 
supply his new erected Pot and Pearl 
Ash factory, and will pearl black 
Salts in the best manner on equitable 
Terms ; and also will give the highest 
Price for black Salts. 

" N. B. A number of New French 
Muskets for sale at the above store." 

In November, 17S6, Benjamin Co- 
vell, from Providence, R. I., began 
merchandising at Ferry Hook, and in 
the following year, Samuel Gale, M. 
D., from Killingworth, Conn., the 
practice of medicine in the new settle- 
ment. 

In the spring of 1787, Flores 
Bancker was employed by Jacob D. 
Van der Heyden to survey and plat 
out a part of his farm for the site of a 
village. "It was, with a foresight 
not always observed, laid out with a 
view of its ultimately being a place of 
considerable magnitude ; and Phila- 
delphia, with its regular squares and 



rectangular streets, was selected as its 
model, by the advice of a gentleman 
who had made a then rare visit to that 
celebrated city." 

Elkanah Watson, in 1788, thus de- 
scribed Ashley's Ferry ; so called on 
account of Captain Stephen Ashley 
having leased the ferry privilege at 
Ferry Hook : "On the east side of 
the river, at this point, a new town 
has been recently laid out, named Van- 
derheyden. This place is situated 
precisely at the head of navigation on 
the Hudson. Several bold and enter- 
prising adventurers have already set- 
tle! here ; a number of capacious 
warehouses and several dwellings 
are already erected. It is favorably 
situated in reference to the important 
and growing trade of Vermont and 
Massachusetts ; and I believe it not 
only bids fair to be a serious thorn in 
the side of New City, [Lansingburgh], 
but in the issue a fatal rival. I think 
Vanderheyden must, from its more 
eligible position, attain ultimate as- 
cendancy." 

On Monday evening, January 5, 
1789, the name Troy was given to the 
little hamlet. The following an- 
nouncement of the action of the peo- 
ple of the place was published in the 
newspapers of Lansingburgh and Al- 
bany : 

" To THE PUBLIC. — This evening 
the freeholders of the place lately 
known by the name of Vanderhey- 
den's or Ashley's Ferry, situated on 
the east bank of Hudson's River, 
about seven miles above Albany, met 
for the purpose of establishing a name 
for said place, when by a majority of 
voices it was confirmed that in future 
it should be called and known by the 
name of Troy. From its present im- 
proved state, and the yet more pleas- 
ing prospect of its popularity arising 
from the natural advantages in the 
mercantile line, it may not be too 
sanguine to expect, at no very distant 



S94 



period, to see Troy as famous for her 
trade and navigation as many of our 
first towns. Troy, January 5, 1789." 

By "an act to appoint trustees to 
take and hold certain lands therein 
mentioned," passed by the legislature, 
March 25, 1794, Jacob D. Van der 
Heyden, Benjamin Covell, Anthony 
Goodspeed, John Pease, Ephraim 
Morgan, Christopher Hutton, and 
Samuel Gale were declared to be the 
first trustees of that part of the town 
of Troy between the Poesten Kill and 
Meadow Creek, (a stream emptying 
into the river a little north of the 
Hoosick Road), and the Hudson and 
a line about a half mile eastward of it. 

By the act, passed February 6, 1798, 
the place was incorporated under the 
name of the village of Troy, The 
power of levying taxes was reserved 
to the vote of the people. 

The following observations respect- 
ing the growth of the village appeared 
in 1800 in the weekly newspaper: 
" It will be sufficient for us to observe 
that fifteen years ago there were in 
this village (now comprising some- 
what more than a mile square) but 
two dwelling houses, and probably 
not more than fifteen inhabitants, and 
that at the present time it contains 
about 300 dwelling houses (independ- 
ent of stores, etc.,) and 1,802 inhab- 
itants. A population so rapid has, 
we believe, but seldom been witnessed 
in the United States." 

On April 2, 1801, additional power 
was granted the trustees, and on 
March 3, 1803. they were invested 
with certain other rights. By the act 
passed April 4, 1806, the village was 
divided into four wards, and four trus- 
tees were elected to represent the peo- 
ple in them. 

In 1805, boards bearing the names 
of the streets were placed on corner 
buildings. 

In June, 1806, the village was de- 
scribed at no little length in the col- 



umns of the Troy Gazette: " The 
buildings are chiefly situated in River, 
First, Second, and Third streets. 

* * * Fourth Street already 
contains several buildings, * * * 
several new and good buildings are 
soon to be put up there, as the lots are 
taken up and considered very valua- 
ble. Fifth Street has but few houses 
as yet ; and but few of the lots in 
Sixth Street are taken up. The vil- 
lage lots were mostly laid out one 
hundred and forty feet deep, and fifty 
feet front on the streets, running north 
and south ; an alley twenty feet wide 
separates them in the rear. Six hun- 
dred and eight lots are already laid 
out on the estate of Jacob D. Van 
der Heyden, and several more on the 
land farther south." 

John Lambert, an English traveller, 
in 1807 thus wrote respecting the ap- 
pearance of the village : " Troy is a 
well built town, consisting chiefly of 
one street of handsome red brick 
houses, upwards of a mile and a half 
in length. There are two or three 
short streets which branch off from 
the main one ; but it is in the latter 
[River Street] that all the principal 
stores, warehouses and shops are sit- 
uated. It also contains several excel- 
lent inns and taverns. The houses 
are all new and lofty and built with 
much taste and simplicity. * * * 
The deep red brick, well pointed, 
gives the buildings an air of neatness 
and cleanliness seldom met with in 
old towns The trade which Troy 
has opened with the new settlements 
to the northward, through the states 
of New York and Vermont, as far as 
Canada, is very extensive, and in 
another twenty years it promises to 
rival the old established city of 
Albany. Its prosperity is indeed al- 
ready looked upon with an eye of jeal- 
ousy by the people of the latter place." 

In 1815, the population of the vil- 
lage had increased to 4,254. 



295 



On April 12, 1816, the legislature 
passed the act making the village a 
city and incorporating " the mayor, 
recorder, aldermen and commonalty 
of the city of Troy." The first char- 
ter election was held on Tuesday, 
May 14, that year, in the six wards of 
the city. The following persons were 
elected aldermen : First ward, George 
Allen ; assistant, Amos Salisbury ; 
second ward, Hugh Peebles ; assist- 
ant, John Loudon; third ward, Town- 
send McCoun ; assistant, Gurdon 
Corning ; fourth ward, Stephen Ross ; 
assistant, Henry Mallory ; fifth ward, 
Lemuel Hawley ; sixth ward, Philip 
Hart, jr. The governor and council 
of appointment of the state of New 
York appointed Albert Pawling, 
mayor, and William L. Marcy, re- 
corder. 

In 1824, there were 991 buildings 
within the limits of the city. Pave- 
ments were making along the differ- 
ent streets, but street lamps had not 
yet been placed in them. In 1825, 
the population had increased to 7,859. 
Sixty-six sloops, tonnage 4,489, were 
owned that year by people in Troy. 
The commodities shipped that year 
from the city were valued at $2,500.- 
000. In 1826, the resident ministers 
of churches numbered 5, the physi- 
cians 12, and the lawyers 31. In 1829, 
River Street was paved for the first 
time. That year, numbers were 
placed on the doors of buildings in 
the city, and the first directory was 
published. 

A correspondent of a popular New 
York newspaper thus spoke of the 
city and its inhabitants in 1835: 
" There is something remarkable in 
the character of the people. No mat- 
ter where they come from, or what 
have been their previous habits, the 
moment they become residents of this 
place, they are Trojans. They not 
only look well to their own individual 
interests, but imbibe the same spirit of 



enterprise which they find prevailing, 
and unite as one man in sustaining 
the interests and advancing the pros- 
perity of Troy. It is in fact a sort of 
community by itself — like Lubec or 
Hamburg, or any other of the free 
cities of the ancient Hanseatic league, 
belonging to the confederacy, it is 
true, but always minding the main 
chance for itself. Hence, when any 
project for the benefit of the town is 
started, so its feasibility is apparent, 
there are no bickerings, or jealousies, 
or rivalships, or long debates. The 
people go to work and do it. So if 
any other city or town in the vicinity 
commences an enterprise of its own, if 
by possibility it can conflict with the 
interests of Troy, or give her real or 
fancied rivals an advantage over it, 
the Trojans are awake in an instant, 
and some countervailing project is 
undertaken, or some original measure 
projected, whereby they can rather 
more than sustain themselves in the 
race of competition. No sooner, for 
instance, had the steamboat monopoly 
been broken up by the Supreme 
Court, and Albany placed a line of 
steamboats upon the river of her own, 
than Troy did the same. When a 
railroad brought the valley of the Mo- 
hawk within an hour's distance from 
Albany, Troy united herself with Ver- 
mont by the process of Macadam. 

* * * At last, though not least, 
a railroad having in effect brought the 
Ballston and Saratoga health springs 
within two hours of Albany, another 
railrt)ad brings the same fountains 
within an hour and a half of Troy. 

* * * They know and feel that 
their interests are identified with 
those of the city, and in whatever 
way the latter is benefited, they read- 
ily perceive their own general advant- 
age. The fruits of this policy, and 
the entire unanimity with which they 
act in regard to all matters of profit 
and loss, are at this time most evident 



296 



in the flourishing condition of the 
town." 

The city, centrally in N. Lat. 42^ 
43' 50" and E. Long. 3"^ 21' 45", 
is on the east bank of the Hudson and 
opposite the villages of West Troy 
and Green Island. The river in front 
of the city is about 700 feet wide. 
The length of the city is about 3I 
miles ; bounded on the north by the 
village of Lansingburgh, and on the 
south by the town of North Greenbush. 
Its average width, between the river 
and the town of Brunswick on the 
east, is about one mile. The long 
alluvial plain on which is the most 
compactly built part of the city, 
is about a half mile wide ; the accliv- 
ity of the eastern high land rising to 
a height varying from 200 to 250 feet. 

The Poesten Kill, a narrow stream, 
has a descent within the limits 
of the city of 230 feet, and fur- 
nishes considerable power to the 
mills and factories on its banks. 
The Wynants Kill, entering the 
city at Albia and flowing into the 
river near the south boundary of the 
city, is also valued for its water 
power. 

The state dam across the Hudson, 
between Troy and Green Island, 1,100 
feet long, built in 1823, at a cost of 
$92,000, to make the Hudson naviga- 
ble to Waterford for sloops and canal 
boats, feeds the hydraulic canal, at 
Canal Street, near the mouth of the 
Piscawen Kill, with a valuable head 
of water, utilized by a number of 
large mills built between the canal 
and the river. 

The principal thoroughfares are 
paved with granite and blue stone. 
The streets are commonly sixty feet 
wide. The building blocks in the 
oldest part of the city were laid out 
400 by 280 feet, intersected by alleys. 
The sidewalks are either smoothly 
flagged or evenly paved with brick. 
Elms and other large trees amply 



shade them in summer. The resi- 
dences of some of the wealthiest peo- 
ple are faced with brown stone. Some 
of the most attractive buildings are 
of brick. The number of frame 
dwellings does not exceed those built 
of brick. 

In less than a century Troy has ac- 
quired a population of nearly 70.000. 
The present inhabitants of West Troy, 
Green Island, Cohoes, Waterford, and 
Lansingburgh, in its immediate vi- 
cinity, would probably augment the 
number to 120,000. 

Troy Belting and Supply 
Company, Nos. 550 to 554 Fulton 
Street, are manufacturers of a superior 
quality of oak-tanned leather belting 
and dealers in all kinds of manufac- 
turers' supplies, fire, factory, and 
street hose, steam and power pumps, 
injectors and ejectors, iron pipe and 
fittings, paper and twine, rubber 
goods, steam and water packing, lace 
leather and belt hooks, oils, oilers, 
and oil tanks, saws and files. The 
Troy Belting and Supply Company, 
of which T. E. Kenyon is president, 
C. E. Wright, vice-president, and W. 
H. Kincaid, secretary and treasurer, 
assumed its present name by permis- 
sion of the Supreme Court, on May 8, 
1886, having been incorporated De- 
cember 15. 1883, under the name of 
The J. LeRoy Pine Company. The 
business was begun in 1867, at 
No. 510 Fulton Street, by J. LeRoy 
Pine and Theodore F. Barnum, under 
the firm-name of Pine & Barnum. 
In 1870, the firm occupied the lower 
part of the building. No. 552 Fulton 
Street, On the dissolution of the 
fiim, in 1S77, J. LeRoy Pine con- 
tinued the business at the same place 
until he was succeeded by the J. Le- 
Roy Pine Company in 1884. 

Troy Bicycle Club, organized 
November 4, 18S1, purchased the 



297 



spacious Coliseum Building, on the 
south side of Federal Street, between 
Sixth and Eighth streets, in the early 
part of iS86, and fitted it for the pur- 
poses of the association. The club- 
house, built of brick, has a frontage 
of g3 feet and a depth of loi feet. 
The riding room, adjacent the club- 
parlors, is 80 by 100 feet. The offi- 
cers are Robley D. Cook, piesident; 



Henry I. Seymour, at 171 River 
Street. His successors were Taylor, 
Seymour, & Co., southwest corner of 
Erie and Auburn streets, West Troy, 
1854 ; Henry I. Seymour & Co., 1S59; 
H, I. Seymour, 1864; H, I. Seymour 
Chair Manufactory, 1871 ; Seymour 
Chair Company, 1878; The Troy 
Chair Company, foimed by George O. 
Callin and George R. Collins, August 




TROY BICYCLE CLUB HOUSE. 



George R. Collins, vice-president ; 
H. Robbins Church, secretary; and 
Frederick H. Norris, treasurer. 

Troy Chair Company, office 
Troy, factory at North Hooaick, manu- 
factures chairs, children's carriages, 
wagons, sleds, velocipedes, bicycles, 
tricycles, and fancy wood work. The 
business was begun in 1851, by 

39 



6, 1885 ; the factory then being on the 
site mentioned in West Troy. 

Troy Choral Union, organized 
March 26, 1879, as the Choral Union 
of the Second Presbyterian Church, 
incorporated November 9, 1885, 
under its present name, meets on Mon- 
day evenings in Association Hall, 
Atheneeum Building, No. 10 First 



298 



Street. John Clatworthy, president ; 
A. W. Harrington, jr., secretary and 
treasurer ; J. E. Van Olinda, con- 
ductor. 

Troy Citizens' Corps, Sixth 
Separate (Infantry) Company, N. G. S. 
N. Y., was originally an independent 
military organization, formed on Wed- 
nesday evening, September 23, 1835. 
Several days before its organization 
public notice was given requesting 
"those persons who had associated 
themselves for the purpose of doing 
military duty based upon the same 
principles as the Albany Burgesses' 
Corps," and those spoken to on the 
subject^ of joining the company to 
meet that evening at the Assembly 
Rooms of the Troy House, where the 
organization of the corps was effected. 
The first officers elected were Thomas 
Turner, captain ; Alfred H. Pierce, 
first, Erastus F. Brigham, second, 
and Lewis Lyons, third lieutenant. 
The corp's first drill-room wns in the 
building on the corner of Second and 
River streets. The company, greatly 
reduced by the enlistment of many of 
its members in the service of the 
United States government during the 
civil war, disbanded in 1864. 

Captains : Thomas Turner, 1835 ; 
Alfred H. Pierce, 1S36-47; John S. 
Van Schaick, 1848; John H. Whit- 
lock, 1849; J. M.Warren Jones, 1S50; 
Alfred H. Pierce, 1851 ; J. M. War- 
ren Jones, 1852 ; Alfred H. Pierce, 
1853 ; Richard C. Barton, 1854-56 ; 
Edwin D. Blanchard, 1857-5S ; Ham- 
ilton L. Shields, 1859-60 ; George F. 
Sims, 1 861 64. 

The remarkable prestige of the first 
corps as a body of citizen soldiery led 
to the organization of the present 
Citizens' Corps, on Wednesday eve- 
ning, November 29, 1876, in the Troy 
Vocal Society's room, in Green's 
Building, on the southeast corner of 
Broadway and Fourth Street. On 



January 12, 1877, James W. Cusack 
was elected captain, Walter P. Warren 
first, Ezra R. Vail second, and LeGrand 
C. Cramer, third lieutenant. Hav- 
ing been designated the 6th Separate 
Company, N. G. S. N. Y., on Febru- 
ary 3, that year, the corps was mus- 
tered in at the old armory on Tues- 
day evening, February 20, by Major 
George H. Otis, of Brig. Gen. Alon- 
zo Alden's staff. On Tuesday even- 
ing, May 15, E. Thompson Gale pre- 
sented the corps with a stand of col- 
ors, in memory of his son, Alfred de 
Forest Gale. The corps made its first 
public parade on May 30. On De- 
cember 8, the designation, 20th Sepa- 
rate Company, N. G. S. N. Y,, was 
given the corps. On February 4, 
1878, it was changed to that of the 
6th Separate Company. The corps' 
quarters are in rooms 7, 8 and 9, on 
the second floor of the new armory. 
The Old Guard of the Citizens' Corps, 
organized July 25, 1879, has its quar- 
ters on the third floor of the new armory. 

Present officers of the Troy Citizens' 
Corps : James W. Cusack, captain ; 
James L. Thompson, first, George D. 
Smith, second, John H. Tupper, 
third lieutenant ; Wait H. Stillman, 
first sergeant ; Elias P. Mann, quar- 
termaster's sergeant ; Isaac F. Handy, 
company clerk. 

Francis N, Mann, jr., president ; 
Seymour Van Santvoord, vice-presi- 
dent; Fred. F. Buell, secretary ; 
Philip F. Vanderheyden, treasurer. 

Present officers of the Old Guard : 
J. L. Russell, captain ; O. S. Ingram, 
first lieutenant ; C. W. Tillinghast, 
president ; Robert W. Hunt, vice- 
president; O. S. Ingram, secretary 
and treasurer. 

Troy City Mantel Company, 

manufacturers of slate mantels, furni- 
ture tops, bracket-shelves, and toilet 
vessels. No. 652 River Street. Organ- 
ized, 1880. 



300 



Troy Club, organized November 
27, 1867, purchased its club-house, on 
the northwest corner of Second and 
Congress streets, December 14, that 
year. First officers : Jonas C. Hearft, 
president ; E. Thompson Gale, vice- 
president ; Thomas Buckley, secreta- 
ry ; Samuel M.Vail, treasurer. Present 
officers : E. Thompson Gale, presi- 
dent; Walter P. Warren, vice-presi- 
dent ; John Clatworthy, secretary ; 
D. W. Ford, treasurer. 

Troy Commercial College, 

McCreary & Shields, proprietors, No. 
13 Third Street, entered on its wide- 
ly-known educational career in 1865. 
Then named Bryant, Stratton & Fol- 
som's Commercial College, the school 
was opened in Young's Building, Nos. 
8 & 9 First Street ; C. E. Hollenbeck, 
resident principal. It began its exist- 
ence as a branch of the extensive sys- 
tem of commercial schools then re- 
cently established in different cities of 
the United States. John R. Carnell 
became principal of the college in 
1867. On April 12, 1871, it was incor- 
porated by the legislature as The 
Troy Commercial College. In 1872, 
it was moved from Young's Building 
to the Troy Times Building. Harri- 
son B. McCreary and Thomas H. 
Shields acquired the direction of its 
affairs on May i, 1876. After the fire 
in the Times Building, February 10, 
1878, the sessions of the school were 
conducted in the building, No. 267 
River Street. On May i, that year, 
the school was moved to Kennedy 
Hall, No. 13 Third Street, where in 
the suitably furnished rooms of a large 
building hundreds of young men and 
women are excellently educated to en- 
gage in commercial and mercantile 
pursuits. The course includes stenog- 
raphy, telegraphy and typewriting. 



of galvanized iron cornices, window 
caps, bay windows, and ornamental 
work. No. 311 River Street. 

Troy Deaf Mute Literary 
Club meets every Saturday, except 
in June, July and August, in St. 
Paul's Guild room. W. T. Collins, 
president ; James M. Witbeck, secre- 
tary ; James C. Ritter. treasurer. 

Troy Pile Works, east side of 
Congress Street, Ida Hill, Johnson & 
White, proprietors, manufacturers of 
hand-cut files, and re-cutters of all 
kinds of old files. The firm was 
formed by W. Irving Johnson and 
Henry White, April 13, 1885. Works 
established in 1831. 

Troy Fuel- Gas Company, 

works No. 405 and 407 River Street, 
established in 1886. 

Troy Hospital, on the east side 
of Eighth Street, opposite Fulton 
Street, a large, four-story, brick build- 
ing, was erected in 1868. The corner- 
stone was laid on Sunday afternoon, 
June 28, that year, by the Right Rev. 
Bishop Conroy. That of the old 
Troy Hospital, on the southwest cor- 
ner of Washington and Fifth streets, 
was laid by General John E. Wool, 
August 15, 1849. (See St. Vincent's 
Orphan Asylum.) The hospital is 
in charge of Sisters of Charity. 



Troy Cornice Works. — 

Rkaruon & Ennis, manufacturers 



Troy House, L. Collins & Co., 
several connected, large, five-story 
buildings, on the east side of First 
Street, at its intersection with River 
Street, is one of the most popular and 
best conducted hotels in the city. As 
early as 1791, the shop of James 
Wardwell, a blacksmith, was on its 
site. On May r, 1794, he purchased 
of Jacob D. Van der Heyden the lot 



301 



on which, in T805, was the public- 
house then known as Titus' Inn, 
opened by Piatt Titus, who conducted 
it until his death, April 30, 1833; he 
having been its keeper "for nearly 
thirty years," as was mentioned in the 
obituary at the time of his decease. 
The succeeding landlords were Archi- 
bald Kidd, 1833 ; Andrew Watrous, 
1838; Coleman & Rogers, (Charles S. 



April I, 1885 ; L. Collins & Co., (Lu- 
cius Collins and Charles O'Brien) 
July I, 18S5. 

The smaller building in the engrav- 
ing represents the original inn first 
kept by Piatt Titus. On the fourth 
story of the larger building was St. 
John's Hall, in which, from February, 
1824, to March, 1834, the different 
Masonic organizations in the city met. 




TROY HOUSE, 1824. 



Coleman and Charles M. Rogers,) 
1845; Charles S. Coleman, 1847; 
closed 1854 and 1855 : John Van Ar- 
num, 1856 ; Charles H. Jones, 1857 ; 
Newman W. Taylor, 1S74 ; James 
W. Stearns, 1875 ; H. W. Stearns, 
1877; Benjamin F. Stiles, 1879; Jan- 
vrin & Gillis, (L. H. Janvrin and 
G. H. Gillis), 1881 ; Collins & Par- 
ris, (Lucius Collins and J. J. Parris,) 



In 1855, the property was purchased 
by The Troy House Association. 
The association then renovated, en- 
larged, and refurnished the connected 
buildings. From 1835 to 1S53, the 
different railroads had a common ter- 
minus in River Street, opposite the 
Troy House. The different lines of 
street cars now pass it. 



302 



Troy Hydraulic Company, 

incorporated April 15, 1826. Canal, 
west side of River Street, and south 
of Canal Street. Oliver Boutvifell, 
president ; A. M. Orr, secretary and 
treasurer. 

Troy Malleable Iron Com- 
pany. — The different buildings of 
the company's large establishment are 
on the east and west sides of Four- 
teenth Street, between Marshall and 
Christie streets. The company was 
incorporated on May i, 1884. Its 



niture of stoves, pokers, grate-shakers, 
lid-lifters, door knobs and keys ; also 
horse-car, carriage and harness hard- 
ware, fire engine appendages. The 
company also manufactures such spe- 
cialties as powder pulverizing balls, 
semi-steel fire pots, wheel-barrow 
wheels, tin and japan-ware fixtures. 
The company also furnishes supplies 
to manufacturers of iron safes. 

The founders of the works were 
George Harrison and William Knight, 
who, in 1850, formed the firm of 
Knight & Harrison, and that year 



«etr=*F 



•^'t' ] 
~i,;«' 






■A-ii- ' 



TROY MALI.EAIJLE IRON WORKS. 



present officers are William A. Grip- 
pin, president ; William Sleicher, jr., 
vice-president and general manager ; 
and Edwin Veghte, secretary and 
treasurer. The business of the com- 
pany embraces the manufacture of 
such refined malleable iron castings as 
belong to railroad cars and locomo- 
tives, draw-bars or buffers, box-covers, 
seat-arms and other work ; also such 
parts of agricultural machinery and 
implements as are attached to plows, 
drills, reapers, mowers, threshers, 
hoes and shovels ; also parts of the fur- 



built a foundry, twenty-five by eighty 
feet, on the northeast corner of Four- 
teenth and Marshall streets. In 1854, 
E. Warren Paine became a partner, 
the firm taking the name of Knight, 
Harrison, & Paine. On the with- 
drawal of E. Warren Paine, John W. 
Paine was admitted a member of the 
firm, which did not change its name. 
The firm was succeeded, in 1865, by 
that of Harrison, Kellogg, and Co. ; 
George Harrison, James H. Kellogg, 
and John Dunn being the members of 
the new firm. In 1869, by the with- 



303 



drawal of the latter partner, the other 
two members of the firm, under the 
name of Harrison & Kellogg, suc- 
ceeded to the business. On August i, 
iSSi, William Sleicher, jr., William 
A. Grippin, and Waldo K. Chase, 
having purchased the good-will and 
interest of Harrison & Kellogg in the 
business, the former, under the name 
of the Troy Malleable Iron Company, 
continued in its management until 
May I, 1884, when the present com- 
pany was incorporated. 

Troy Pottery and Sewer 
Pipe Company, Carpenter & 
Ball, stone-ware manufacturers and 
wholesale dealers in Rockingham, 
white, and yellow wares, sewer pipe, 
drain tile, chimney tops, terra cotta 
and ornamental tiles, No. 102 Ferry 
Street. The company was formed by 
Ira H. Carpenter and C. H. Ball, 
September i, 1885. On the site of 
of the establishment, John Gifford 
began manufacturing stone and earthen 
ware about 1804. Subsequently he 
and Josiah Chapman, two prominent 
Friends, became associated in the 
business. They resided in the house 
adjoining the pottery, and in this 
building, previous to the use of the 
meeting-house, on the southwest cor- 
ner of Fourth and State streets, in 
1806, the Friends sometimes held 
their meetings. On the dissolution 
of the partnership, Josiah Chapman 
continued in the business until he was 
succeded by Israel Seymour. His 
successors were Walter J. Seymour, 
1852; Thompson & Tyler, (William 
Thompson and Isaac Tyler,) 1858 ; 
Tyler & Co., (Isaac Tyler and Fred- 
erick Wetmore, 1859 ; Walter J. Sey- 
mour, 1861 ; Carpenter & Ball, 1885. 

Troy Railroad Young Men's 
Christian Association. The 
first meeting initiating the work of the 



Young Men's Christian Association 
among the employes of the different 
railroad companies whose roads enter 
the city was held at the Union Depot, 
November 6, 1880. Addresses were de- 
livered by Edwin D. Ingersoll, inter- 
national secretary, and other persons. 
A number of railroad officials and some 
prominent members of different 
churches in the city having become 
interested in the work, the Troy Rail- 
road Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation was organized in December, 
18S0, A reading-room was opened in 
the south part of the depot, and re- 
ligious services were held on .Sunday 
afternoons in the waiting-rooms of the 
New York Central Railroad Com- 
pany. A sum exceeding $4,000 hav- 
ing been contributed for the erection 
of a suitable building for the use of 
the association, Theodore Voorhees, 
Lewis E. Gurley and Jose;'h De- 
Golyer were appointed, in July, 1882, 
a l)uilding committee. On July 24, 
the work of excava'.ing for the foun- 
dations of the building was begun on 
the plat of ground on the northwest 
corner of the alley, north side of 
Broadway, between the depot and 
Seventh Street. On Tuesday even- 
ing, December 19, the attractive build- 
ing was formally occupied. The in- 
terior is admirably arranged with 
offices, parlors, library, reading and 
assembly rooms on the first and second 
floors. The cost of the building, in- 
cluding its furniture, was about $10,- 
000; $2,000 having been contributed 
by the railroad companies and $5 000 
by citizens of Troy, leaving an unpaid 
debt of $3,000. About 1,000 vol- 
umes are contained in the library. 
Present officers : Theodore Voorhees, 
president ; Joseph Crandall, vice-presi- 
dent ; Charles A. Nimmo, secretary ; 
J. W. A. Cluett, treasurer ; Alexander 
Munro, general secretary ; Lewis E. 
Gurley, chairman of finance com- 
mittee. 




T. R. R, YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION BUILDING. 



805 



Troy Scientific Association, 

organized October, 1870, incorporated 
December, 1874. R. H. Ward, M. 
D., president ; J. W. A. Cluett, first 
vice-president; A. M. Wright, M. D., 
second vice-president ; George H. En- 
nis, corresponding secretary ; Joseph 
McKay, recording secretary and treas- 
urer. Microscope section : R. 11. 
Ward, M. D., chairman ; C. E. Hana- 
man, secretary and treasurer. 

Troy Steel and Iron Com- 
pany — A capital of $2,500,000, 
buildings to cover the area of a par- 
allelogram three-fourths of a mile 
long by one-fourth of a mile wide, 
employment for three thousand men, 
annual amount of wages $1,500,000, 
coal required 100,000 tons, capacity 
to produce yearly steel rails to track a 
road extending from Troy to Chicago, 
are in part particulars sufficient to in- 
dicate the magnitude of the corpora- 
lion's business. The furnaces, facto- 
ries, forges, mills, and offices of the 
company's extensive works in the 
south part of the city have had differ- 
ent names given them by former pos- 
sessors. The first site within the 
present limits of the city selected for 
the erection of the buildings of an 
iron manufacturing company was on 
the banks of the Wynants Kill, which 
took its name from Wynant Gerritse 
Van der Poel, who purchased, on Oc- 
tober 18, 1674, Pieter Van Woggel- 
um's saw-mill, built on the stream by 
one of the early Dutch settlers of 
F ensselaerswyck. In 17S9, David De- 
fieest, or De Forest, as the name was 
t)ien written, erected a fulling mill on 
t'ne north bank of the creek, not far 
east of the present iion bridge near 
the terminus of the street railway. In 
1807, John Brinkerhoff of Albany 
built on the site of tlie mill a nail fac- 
tory, which, in 1824, contained "11 
cutting and heading machines." In 



1826, Erastus Corning of Albany pur- 
chased the factory for $5,280, and 
named it 

The Albany Nail Factory. He 
and John T. Norton, having formed a 
partnership under the name of Norton 
& Corning, appointed Thomas Tur- 
ner, jr., superintendent of the estab- 
lishment. In the Troy Directory of 
1830 is this description of it : 

"Albany Nail Factory, Thomas 
Turner, jr., agent, drives 12 cut nail 
machines, and during the year ending 
April I, 1830, rolled 825 tons of iron, 
of which 450 tons were cut into nails, 
and 375 tons were for other uses ; it 
employs an average of 32 men con- 
stantly." On the dissolution of the 
firm of Norton & Corning, James 
Horner became a partner of Erastus 
Corning. In 1838, John F. Winslow 
having associated with them, the firm 
took the name of Corning, Horner, & 
Winslow. The establishment was 
then called the 

Albany Iron Works. In 1839, 
the first puddling or making of 
wrought iron from pig-iron was under- 
taken at the works. In 1849, the 
steam mill, on the south side of the 
Wynants Kill, immediately east of 
the Bessemer steel works, was built 
and put in operation. The firm of 
Corning, Horner, & Winslow was 
succeeded by that of Corning, Wins- 
low, & Co. ; Gilbert C. Davidson, and 
Erastus Corning, jr., being admitted 
copartners. In 1864, the name of the 
firm was changed to Comings & Win- 
slow, and in 1867 to Erastus Corning 
& Co. The general office of the 
works was for many years in the 
building on the north side of Mill 
Street, immediately east of the ter 
minus of the street railway. On 
the north bank of the Wynants 
Kill, south of Mill Street, are the 
water-mill, the spike, bolt and rivet 
factory, the nail factory. Mechanics' 
Hall, and other structures belonging 



40 



30: 



to the company. South of the \Vy- 
nants Kill, and on the west side of the 
Greenbush road, are the steam mill, 
the Star forge, the machine and black- 
smith shop, the laboratory, and other 
buildings, nearly all of which were 
included under the name of The Al- 
bany Iron Works. 

It was at these works that some of 
the iron for the Galena was m;ide 
in iS6i. In the month of September, 
that year, while John F. Winslow and 
John A. Griswold were in Washing- 
ton to obtain the money due them by 
the United States government for the 
plating, C. S. Bushnell, of New Ha- 
ven, Conn., acting in the interest of 
the distinguished Swedish engineer, 
John Ericsson, desired them to exam- 
ine his plans and specifications of a 
turreted steam battery and to assist 
in obtaining from the government a 
contract for the construction of one. 
Convinced of its effectiveness, they 
agreed to enter into a copartnership 
with Captain Ericsson and C. S. 
Bushnell to construct one should the 
government accept their proposals. 
Secretary Seward, having been called 
upon by them, obligingly accompanied 
the three gentlemen to the executive 
mansion and introduced them to Pres- 
ident Lincoln. He was so impressed 
with the nature of their appeal to 
him to use his influence to further 
their overtures to the board of naval 
officers, which had some time before 
declined to consider the project of 
Captain Ericsson, that he is reported 
to have said: " Well, I don't know 
much about ships, though I once con- 
trived a canal boat, the model of 
which is down in the Patent-office, 
the great excellence of which was 
that it could be run where there was 
no water. But I think there is some- 
thing in this plan of Ericsson. I will 
tell you what I will do. I will meet 
you to-morrow at ten o'clock, at the 
office of Commodore Smith, and we 
will talk it all over." 



At the appointed time and place he 
appeared and sealed himself upon a 
box in the plainly furnished room. 
The secretary of the navy and other 
officers of the department were pres- 
ent. When John F, Winslow had 
described the vessel and explained its 
action, it is said the president was the 
first to speak, saying, " Well, Com- 
modore Smith, what do you think of 
it ?" Having heard his somewhat 
non-committal reply. President Lin- 
coln said : " Well, I think there is 
something in it, as the girl said when 
she put her foot in the stocking." 
Bidding those present "Good morn- 
ing," he passed out the door. Al- 
though Commodores Paulding and 
Smith signified their willingness to 
report favorably on Ericsson's battery, 
the third member of the board was 
disinclined to yield his consent. It 
was not until Captain Ericsson was 
pursuaded to go again to Washington 
and to explain the merits of the novel 
vessel to Secretary Welles and the 
members of the board appointed by 
Congress, that a verbal order was 
given for I he construction of the bat- 
tery. The board made its report Sep- 
tember i6, 1861, in which the fea- 
tures of the contract were outlined. 

As if foreseeing the peril threaten- 
ing the wooden war-vessels of the 
United States, John A. Griswold and 
John F. Winslow, without waiting 
to be secured by a written contract 
with the government, began making 
the necessary preparations for manu- 
facturing the iron. The zeal of the 
Troy contractors in hastening the pro- 
gress of the work is evinced in the 
following communication addressed to 
Captain Ericsson, dated at the Alba- 
ny Iron Works, September 26, 1861 : 

"Allow me to ask that you give me 
your specification for the plates for 
the hulls (lower) boat for the battery 
at your earliest convenience, as I want 
to prepare the slabs in readiness for 



809 



rolling ; the making of the slabs being 
the largest part of the operation. I 
shall make these hull plates of scrap- 
iron, greatly superior in strength and 
purity (important when used in salt 
water and where corrosion is an im- 
portant consideration) to the ordinary 
puddled ship-plates. * * * 

J. F. WiNSLOW." 

On October 4, 1861, the contract 
was duly signed and sealed. Five days 
afterward, John F. Winslow wrote 
to Captain Ericsson, saying: "It was 
not until I got Mr. Griswold's tele- 
gram that all was arranged at Wash- 
ington, that I felt sure of having the 
contract secuied with the government, 
but now that the preliminaries are 
settled there will be no delinquency 
or delay in getting the materials (at 
least the iron portion) forward in 
time. One hundred days, and they 
short ones, are few enough to do all 
that is to be done, yet I have no 
doubt that without any unforseen mis- 
hap or embarrassment it may be ac- 
complished within the time." 

The next day he again wrote : "Your 
anxiety in the matter is quite natural, 
yet time enough to produce the plates 
must be had, and I suppose we can do 
that as rapidly as any other concern. 
* * * I fully realize the import- 
ance of saving every hour of time, 
and you may rely upon our best 
energies to complete the job within 
the time of the contract." 

Thomas F. Rowland, agent of the 
Continental Iron Works at Green- 
point, L. I., was given the construc- 
tion of the hull ; the Delamater Iron 
Works, New York, the contract for 
making the engine, boilers, and ma- 
chinery ; and Charles D. DeLancy of 
Buffalo, that for the port-stoppers. 

The Monitor was launched at Green- 
point, on January 30, 1862 ; the one 
hundred and first working-day from 
the date of the contract. On Sunday, 
March 9, that year, the memorable 



action between the Monitor and the 
Merrimac took place in Hampton 
Roads. Five days thereafter the 
government made the last payment, 
$68,750, to the enterprising contract- 
ors whose perseverance and industry 
gave to the United States in the 
darkest period of the war the means 
of sriving her navy from total destruc- 
tion. 

During the war a great number of 
solid lip railroad chairs, used on the 
military railroads in Virginia and 
other states in rebellion, were also 
made at the works for the govern- 
ment. 

The Bessemer Steel Works. 
When in England, in 1862, Alexander 
L. Holley, of Troy, heard so much 
said respecting Henry Bessemer's dis- 
covery of a process by which pig-iron 
was decarbonized to convert it into 
steel, that on his return to Troy he 
induced John A. Griswold and John 
F. Winslow to become his partners in 
purchasing the American patents of 
the distinguished English engineer, 
bearing dates of February 12 and of 
August 25, 1856. In the summer of 
1863, A. L. Holley went again to 
England, where in the following 
spring he olitained the right of mak- 
ing Bessemer steel in America. The 
site selected by Winslow, Griswold & 
Holley to erect a suitable building for 
a 2^ ton plant was that of the flour- 
mill built on the bank of the Hudson, 
south of the Wynants Kill, by Thom- 
as L. Witbeck, in 1796, and to which 
he conducted water from the Defreest 
fulling mill by a "trunk made of 
joice boards and plank." When this 
raceway was washed away by a fresh- 
et, Elisha Putnam constructed in its 
place a conduit of headless barrels 
joined end to end, for which improved 
flume he obtained a patent December 
31, 1816. The first conversion of 
iron into steel at the Bessemer works 
was accomplished on February 16, 



•Sll 



1865 ; Crown Point charcoal iron be- 
ing used. To test the fitness of Amer- 
ican iron for conversion into steel, 
Winslovv, Griswold, & HoUey wisely 
experimented with a number of irons 
manufactured in the United States 
As there was no recourse at that time 
to a chemical analysis of the composi- 
tion of the iron sent them, many of 
the brands which were tested were as- 
sumed to be unsuited for conversion 
into steel. " In the light of our pres- 
ent chemical knowledge of the manu- 
facture, " says a recent wiiter, "it is 
amazing to think of firms sending a 
few tons to Wyandotte, Troy, or even 
England, to be tried in actual prac- 
tice, when a few hours of laboratory 
work would have settled the entire 
question." 

The successful results of the first 
manufacturing operations of Winslow, 
Griswold, & Holley, induced the firm 
to enlarge the works in 1867 with a 
five ton plant. At that time John C. 
Thompson was superintendent of the 
works. Subsequently A. L Holley 
quitted Troy to take charge of the 
Pennsylvania Steel Works, at Harris- 
burgh, Pa., and John C. Thompson to 
become the superintendent of the 
Cleveland Rolling Mill Company's es- 
tablishment. Under the superintend- 
ence of Z. S. Durfee, the latter's suc- 
cessor, it is said, the works had a ca- 
pacity of making 40 tons of ingots in 
a day. By accident, the roof of the 
larger building caught fire October 
ig, 1868, which almost consumed the 
structure and considerably damaged 
the machinery. Shortly after Z. S. 
Durfee's resignation, A. L. Holley 
look the manaqement of the works, 
Vhich then belonged to John A. Gris- 
wold & Co. ; John F. Winslow having 
conveyed his interest to the copartners, 
John A. Griswold, Erastus Corning, 
sr., Chester Griswold, and Erastus 
Corning, jr. The first "blow" in the 
reconstructed building was made Jan- 



uary 12, 1870. In 1871, A. L. Holley 
was succeeded by Barney Mee. On 
the latter's death, February 11, 1872, 
John C. Thompson, the first superin- 
tendent, took charge of the works. 
He was succeeded by Robert W. 
Hunt, on October i, 1873, who in 
turn was succeeded by John Wool 
Griswold, May i, 1875, who on Au- 
gust I, 1878, was succeeded by C. T. 
Arnberg, who still is superintendent. 
The laboratory was first in charge of 
the distinguished chemist. Dr. August 
Wendel, who by assiduous investiga- 
tion and careful analyses greatly ad- 
vanced the manufacture of the best 
qualities of steel in the United States. 
The Bessemer works in this city 
have the recogaition of being the ex- 
perimental as well as the pioneer steel 
works in America, and the quality of 
the steel manufactured at them bears 
the highest reputation in every part 
of the country. The Bessemer 
works embrace the converting build- 
ing, (a ten ton plant,) the melting 
house, the blooming mill, the ma- 
chine shop, the boiler and engine 
house, and other smaller structures. 

Rensselaer Iron Works. Le 
Grand Cannon, one of the trustees of 
the Troy Vulcan Company, on Octo- 
ber I, 1845, purchased a number of 
lots on the south side of the Poesten 
Kill and west of River Street, on 
which the Troy Vulcan Company, in 
1846, built a rolling mill. The land 
on which it was erected was once a 
part of the farm early known to the 
Dutch settlers by the name of the 
Poesten Bowery, and was also a part 
of the estate of Teddy Maginnis, 
sold to Col. Stephen I. Schuyler, May 
28, 1771, for ;/^i,8oo. 

The Troy Rolling Mill Company 
purchased the property, October 15, 
1852, and sold it, November i, that 
year, to Henry Burden. He convey- 
ed it, April 25, 1853, to the Rensse- 
laer Iron Company. John F. Wins- 



312 




low, on May 29, 1854, bought the 
property, and he, in turn, in Decem- 
ber, that year, conveyed it to the 
Rensselaer Iron Company. In 185S, 
John A. Grisvvold became agent of 
the Rensselaer Iron Works, and some 
years later they became the property 
of John A. Griswold «& Co.; John A. 
Griswold, Erastus Corning, sr., Ches- 
ter Griswold, and Erastus Corning, 
jr., comprising the firm. The brick 
building on the north side of the Poes- 
ten Kill, 100 by 400 feet, known as 
the rail-mill, was erected in 1870, un- 
der the supervision of George Bab- 
cock, then superintendent of the 
works. The visitor sees in it the va- 
rious processes by which steel blooms 
or ingots from the Bessemer works 
are made into railroad rails. The 
merchant-iron mill, on the south side 
of the Poesten Kill, is a brick build- 
ing, 125 by 320 feet. Near these two 
large mills are the machine shop, the 
storage building, and other buildings 
belonging to the Troy Steel and Iron 
Company. 

On March i, 1875, by the consoli- 
dation of the interests of Erastus 
Corning & Co., and those of John A. 
Griswold & Co., the 

Albany and Rensselaer Iron 
AND Steel Company was formed. 
Its officers were Erastus Corning, 
president ; Chester Griswold, vice- 
president ; Selden E. Marvin, secreta- 
ry and treasurer ; James E. Walker, 
general manager ; and Robert W. 
Hunt, general superintendent. On 
July 25, 1885, the articles of incorpo- 
ration of the 

Troy Steel and Iron Company 
were filed ; capital stock, $2,500,000; 
Erastus Corning, Le Grand B. Can- 
non, Selden E. Marvin, Alexander J. 
Leith, H. H. Rogers, Benjamin 
Brewster, and Chester Griswold, 
trustees. On August 25, that year, 
the stockholders elected Chester 
Griswold, president ; Erastus Corn- 




a 



314 



ing, vice-president ; Selden E. Mar- 
vin, secretary; and treasurer ; and 
Robert W. Hunt, general superin- 
tendent of the works. On the organ- 
ization of ^the company, Erastus 
Corning conveyed to it Breaker Island 
and the north part of Hillhouse 
Island, in the Hudson, opposite the 
Bessemer works. On those islands 
the company began erecting on Sep- 
tember I, 1885, three blast furnaces, 
80 feet high, with boshes 18 feet in 
diameter. With each furnace three 
Whitwell bricked hot-blast stoves will 
be connected. The plant will also em- 
brace seven blowing engines discharg- 
ing 12,000 cubic feet of air in a min- 
ute, driven by steam from 16 Heine 
safety boilers. Each furnace will 
have a casting house, 150 feet long, 
built of brick. The engine house, lo- 
cated north of the furnaces, will be a 
brick structure 150 feet in length, and 
the boiler house adjoining it, 153 feet. 
The stock house, constructed of iron, 
will be 100 by 300 feet. The wrought 
iron chimney of the plant will be 200 
feet high. A wharf, 500 feet in length, 
will be built along the east side of 
Breaker Island. A branch track of 
the Delaware and Hudson Canal Com- 
pany's railroad has been constructed 
from the main road switch, south of 
the Albany and West Troy turnpike 
bridge, to Breaker Island, for the 
transportation of ore and other mate- 
rial used by the Troy Steel and Iron 
Company. On August 5, 1886, the 
company received itsnew steam ferry- 
boat, 90 feet long, to be used to con- 
vey cars laden with molten iron from 
the furnaces on the island across the 
river to the Bessemer works, where 
by the " direct process" the iron will 
be converted into steel, The plant 
on Breaker Island, it is estimated, will 
have a capacity of producing 3,150 
tons of iron weekly. 

In the different buildings of the 
extensive works of the company are 



7 double and 14 single puddling fur- 
naces, 50 heating furnaces, 13 trains 
of rolls, and more than 35 steam en- 
gines of different sizes. The produc- 
tion of the works include steel rails, 
steel shapes and sheets, special and 
agricultural steels, iron bars, angles, 
car-axles, finger-bars, fish-plates, 
bolts, nuts, steel and iron boiler rivets, 
and steel rails. 

The laboratory of the Bessemer 
works is in charge of J, M. Sherrerd, 
an excellent chemist, who in 1S81 suc- 
ceeded Dr. August Wendel, in that 
department. 

The ofifices of the Troy Steel and 
Iron Company are in its two-story, 
brick building, on the southeast cor- 
ner of Madison and River streets. 
The cars of the street railway, on Sec- 
ond Street, cross Madison Street, a 
short distance east of the building. 

Troy Times Building, on the 

northeast corner of Broadway and 
Third Street, was erected in 1S71. 
On Monday, April 29, 1872, the news- 
paper was first published in it. On 
February 10, 1878, the building was 
partly destroyed by fire. (See News- 
papers.) 

Troy, Town of. — By an act of 

legislature, passed March 18, 179 1, 
the town of Troy was erected from a 
part of the town of Rensselaerswyck. 
On Monday, April 4, a town meeting 
was held at Ashley's tavern, and the 
first town officers elected. On March 
20, 1807, the territory of the town of 
Brunswick and parts of the towns of 
Grafton and Lansingburgh were taken 
from it. In 1814, a part of Brunswick 
was annexed. In 1836, a part of the 
town of Troy was added to the town 
of Greenbush. 



Troy Turn Verein, organized 
Augusts, 1852; reorganized Septem- 



315 



ber 30, 1885, meets on Wednesday 
evenings, at Apollo Hall. 

Troy Typographical Union 
No. 52, organized 1S60. reorganized 
1864, meets on the third Tuesday 
evenings of each month in Emmet 
Hall. George A. Stevens, president ; 
Frank O'Brien, vice-president; Cor- 
nelius A, Conaty, financial secretary ; 
John M. Hall, recording secretary ; 
William J. Moreland, corresponding 
secretary ; Henry Coffeen, treasurer. 



Northern Budget to the people of 
Troy to establish a library. " How 
much to be regretted," the writer re- 
marks, "that in a village which con- 
tains 2,000 souls, and whose popula- 
tion is rapidly increasing, amid sec- 
ular concerns, the establishment of a 
public libr.'iry should have been wholly 
ommitted — an institution from which 
may be conducted to every door a cor- 
rection of morals and a source of men- 
tal improvement." Shortly afterward 
a "subscription for the Trojan Li- 




- ^^ 



TROY TIMES BUILDING. 



Troy Vocal Society, organized 
1875. meets every Tuesday evening at 
No. 265 River Street. William 
Irvin, D. D., president ; C. H. Me- 
neely, vice-president ; John H. Knox, 
secretary ; and Joseph H. Knight, 
treasurer. 

Troy Young Men's Associa- 
tion, Athenajum Building, east side 
of First Street, between River and 
State streets. On November 13, 
1799, an appeal was made in the 



brary" was circulated, and on Tues- 
day, January 11, 1800, the organiza- 
tion of 

The Troy Library was effected 
at Jeremiah Pierce's inn. A small 
collection of books having been ob- 
tained, the library was opened in the 
fall of that year. At a meeting of 
the trustees held at Titus' inn, on 
March 31, iSog, it was 

'■'Resolved, That the trustees of the 
Troy Library sell to Apollo Lodge, 
No. 49, twenty-seven shares in said 



316 



library at $15 each, amounting to 
$405, privileging the members (be 
they more or less,) of said lodge I0 
such use of the same as may hereafter 
be agreed upon between ihe trustees 
of tlie said library and the committee 
on the part of the said lodge." 

The shares were sold, and Apollo 
Lodge had thereafter its three senior 
officers annually elected trustees of 
the library. By the fire of June 20, 
1820, some of the books of the li- 
brary, then kept in the drug store of 
Ira M. Wells, on River Street, were 
burned. In January, 1835, the books 
were by a special agreement placed in 
the library-room of the Troy Young 
Men's Association. In 1845, the 
shares of the stockholders of the Troy 
Library were given to the association, 
which then purchased the twenty- 
seven owned by Apollo Lodge, 

Presidents of the Troy Library from 
1800 to 1826 : Rev. Jonas Coe, Aaron 
Lane, Nicholas Schuyler, Ebenezer 
Jones, Gershom Richards, John Board- 
man, Aaron Lane, Gurdon Corning. 
Joseph Russell, from 1832 to 1835. 

Librarians from 1800 to 1826: 
Zephaniah Filer, Samuel Starr, Livy 
Stoughton, Isaac Webb, Abraham 
Ten Eyck, Henry Stockwell, Ira 
M. Wells, Jacob L. Lane, Sidney A. 
Redfield. 

Troy Young Men's Association. 
A course of public lectures during 
the winter of 1833-34, having been 
largely attended, a second one was 
proposed for the following winter. 
On November 26, 1834, the following 
notice was published in several of the 
city newspapers : 

" The young men who are in favor 
of a public course of lectures this 
winter are requested to meet at the 
mayor's court-room, on Friday even- 
ing next, at 8 o'clock, to make the 
necessary arrangements. At the same 
time the expediency of forming a 
' Young Men's Association' will be 
discussed." 



The meeting, held on November 
28, in the court-house, attracted a 
large number of those interested in 
the organization of an association. 
Giles B. Kellogg, Thomas Coleman, 
Martin I. Townsend, Ralph Hawley, 
and Thaddeus B. Bigelow were ap- 
pointed a committee "to take into 
consideration the expediency and prac- 
ticability of forming a young men's 
association, and report at a subse- 
quent meeting." On Friday evening, 
December 12, the committee reported 
favorably upon the organization of an 
association, and submitted a draft of a 
constitution for one. A committee 
of five persons from each of the first 
four wards in the city was then ap- 
pointed to obtain signers to the con- 
stitution of The Troy Young Men's 
Association. On the following Friday 
evening, the names of 426 signers 
were reported. At that meeting, John 
T. McCoun was elected president of 
the association. On Wednesday even- 
ing, December 22, the other officers 
were elected. In January, 1835, the 
books of the Troy Library, by special 
agreement, were placed in the library- 
room of the association, which had 
rented rooms on the second floor of 
the building. No. 197 River Street. 
The two rooms, one in which were 
about 100 newspapers, home and for- 
eign, on file, the other containing the 
library and periodicals, were opened 
about the middle of February, that 
year. On April 20, that year, the 
act was passed by the legislature to 
incorporate the Troy Young Men's 
Association. 

On May i, 1846, the association occu- 
pied the rooms, fitted for its use, on 
the second floor of the Athenaeum 
Building, erected by the Troy Savings 
Bank in 1845. Iii 1851, when the 
building was extended to the alley, 
the two rooms on the second floor of 
the addition were fitted for the library. 

The first art exhibition for the 
benefit of the association was opened 




ATHEN/EUM BUILDING. 



318 



February 18, 1858, and closed March 
27. Two other art exhibitions were 
held for the same purpose in the two 
following winters. In 1859 Ben- 
jamin H. Hall and Charles L. Alden 
completed a printed catalogue of the 
books in the library, which then con- 
tained 12,067 volumes. In 1862, Wil- 
liam R. Yourt bequeathed $5,000 to 
the association ; and George M. Sel- 
den, the same year, gave it railroad 
stock, valued at $2,000. In 1870, 
Clarence Willard bequeathed $10,000 
to the association ; in 1879, Roxanna 
A. Loomis, $1,000; and in 1881 F. O. 
Mather, about $12,000; and on De- 
cember 12, 1884, Mrs. Betsey A. 
Hart gave it $io,ooo. 

By an act of legislature, passed May 
8, 1880, the control, disposal, and 
management of the real and personal 
property of the association was vested 
in a board of twenty-three trustees. 
They were empowered to organize 
and add to the departments of the 
association a free library and a free 
reading-room whenever, in their judg- 
ment, the condition of the association 
and of the trust funds should warrant 
such action. 

In the winter of 1881-82, E. Thomp- 
son Gale, desiring to have the- asso- 
ciation possess the Athenaeum Build- 
ing, circulated a paper on which 
the following subscriptions were made: 
E. Thompson Gale, $5,000; William 
Howard Hart, $5,000; Betsey A. 
Hart, $5,000; William and Lewis E. 
Gurley, $3,000; Joseph M. Warren, 
$2,000; Joseph W. Fuller, $1,500; 
Charles W. Tillinghast, $1,000; Uri 
Gilbert, $1,000 ; Alphonzo Bills, $500; 
John B. Gale, $250; T. W. Lock- 
wood, $250; William Kemp, $250; 
Willard Gay, $250; Henry C. Lock- 
wood, $100 ; Cicero Price, $100 ; 
George H. Freeman, $100 ; James A. 
Eddy, $100; Elias Kehn, $50; total, 
$25,450. At the public sale of the 
property, on January 21, 1882, the 



Athenseum Building was purchased 
for $24,500. 

In 1884, the interest and income 
from the trust funds and the property 
of the association having been deemed 
sufficient to pay its current expenses, 
the trustees determined to make the 
library and reading-room free to the 
public under certain necessary con- 
ditions and restrictions. 

Previous to this action, the use of 
the rooms beneath those used by the 
association, in the rear building, had 
been granted to the Free Reading 
Room Association. The latter had 
its origin in the Holly Tree Inn, open- 
ed May 4, 1874, in the building No. 
69 Third Street, where a free reading- 
room and library were established 
that summer. On March 13, 1877, 
the Free Reading-Room Association 
was incorporated. In April, that 
year, the association rented the vacant 
common council chamber in the court- 
house, where it kept its reading-room 
and library until 1878, when the asso- 
ciation obtained the use of a part of 
the basement of the city-hall. On 
September 11, 1877, E. Thompson 
Gale, having previously presented the 
association with a collection of books 
and a suitable case to contain them, 
gave it $1,000 in stocks, the income 
of which to be applied to purchase 
additional books for the alcove ; the 
several gifts being made by him in 
memory of his deceased son, Alfred 
deForest Gale. In the event of the 
discontinuance of the association, the 
the invested funds were to be trans- 
ferred to the Troy Young Men's 
Association. 

On Friday evening, December 12, 
1884, the Troy Young Men's Asso- 
ciation celebrated its semi-centennial 
anniversary, in Music Hall. Ben- 
jamin H. Hall read an elaborate 
monograph of its history, and a number 
of speeches were made by other gentle- 
men, officers and members. Lewis E. 



319 



Gurley, president of the Free Reading- 
Room Association, formally trans- 
ferred to the association the property 
of that association, which then ceased 
to exist. John S. Cronin, the presi- 
dent of the Troy Young Men's Asso- 
ciation, then relinquished the direction 
of its affairs to the trustees of the in- 
stitution. 

In February, 18S5, the renovation 
and refurnishing of the rooms used 
by the association and the classified 
arrangement of the books of the li- 
brary were begun. On the comple- 
tion of this work, in the early part of 
the following summer, the librarian, 
DeWitt Clinton, and the present 
assistant librarian, William H. Hen- 
derson, made a full title and sub- 
ject card-catalogue of the books, 
periodicals, and newspapers in the 
three library rooms. In the lower 
library-room, connected with the read- 
ing-room, on the first floor, are works 
of fiction, children's books, and the 
Alfred deForest Gale Library. About 
5,000 volumes are in this part of the 
building. In the general library- 
room, on the second story, are about 
18,000 volumes, of which number 
about 500 are those of the Troy 
Library, about 2,700 in the Yourt 
Library, and about 100 in the Hart 
Library. In the room on the third 
floor are about 4,000 bound volumes, 
chiefly comprising law books, New 
York State and United States govern- 
ment publications, and files of Troy 
and New York city newspapers. The 
total number of bound volumes in the 
three library-rooms is about 27,000. 
A printed catalogue, designating the 
shelf-place of each book, is much 
needed to enhance the value of this 
excellently arranged library. 

Presidents : John T. McCoun, 1835; 
Thaddeus B. Bigelow, 1836 ; Henry 
W. Strong, 1837 ; George Gould. 1838; 
I. J. Merritt, 1839 ; James M. Ste- 
venson, 1840; Charles H. Read, 1841; 



J. L. Van Schoonhoven, 1842 ; Joseph 
White, 1843 ; Thomas Coleman, 1844; 
John G. Britton, 1845 : William Ha- 
gen, 1846 ; Gilbert Robertson, jr., 
1847; Uri Gilbert, 1848; Amos K. 
Hadley, 1849: D. B. Cox. 1850; G. 
B. Wallace, 1S51 ; William Gurley, 
1852; George B.Warren, jr., 1853; 
William H. Young, 1854 ; Lyman R. 
Avery, 1855 ; William O. Cunning- 
ham, 1856; DeWitt Tuthill, 1857; 
Charles L. Alden, 1858 ; Benjamin 
H. Hall, 1859; John M. Landon, 
i860; Nelson Davenport, 1861 ; A. 

B. Fales, 1862; John L. Flagg, 1863; 
Chauncey O. Greene, 1864; Charles 
A. Holmes, 1865 ; Clarence Willard, 
1865; Frederick P. Allen, 1866 ; Wil- 
liam E. Gilbert, 1867 ; Benjamin F. 
Follett, 1868 ; J. Spencer Garnsey, 
1869; William D. Clegg, 1870-71; 
E. L. Fursman, 1872; Edward G. 
Gilbert, 1S73 ; Irving Hayner, 1874; 
I. Grant Thompson, 1875 ; Latham 

C. Strong, 1876 ; William Shaw, 1877 ; 
Justin Kellogg, 1878; Dudley Tib- 
bits, 1879 ; Charles R. Defreest, 1880; 
Elias P. Mann, iSSi ; Charles W. Til- 
linghast, 18S2 ; Clarkson C. Schuyler, 
M. D., 1S83 ; John S. Cronin, 1884. 

President of the board of trustees, 
E. Thompson Gale, 1880 to present 
time. 

Libraiians; William Hagen, 1835; 
N. B. Milliman, 1841 ; George H. 
Ball, 1S41 ; John R. Harris, 1842; 
John H. White, 1844 ; William Rob- 
ertson, 1845 ; Henry P. Filer.''i846; 
T. B. Heimstreet, 1864; F. H. 
Stevens, 1865 ; DeWitt Clinton, 1875 
to present time. 

Troy Young Men's Catholic 
Literary Association, organized 
1S59, meets on the first and third 
Monday evenings of each month at 
the association rooms in the building 
on the northwest corner of Congress 
and Plrst streets. John T. Kelly, presi- 
dent ; William Coffee, recording sec- 



320 



retary ; William Casey, corresponding 
secretary ; John J. Puicell, treasurer ; 
John Moran, librarian. 

Truss Manufacturer.— 

Thomas P. Bundy, manufacturer 
of trusses and specialist in the treat- 
ment of hernia, southeast corner of 
Broadway and Second Street, began 
the business in Troy in 1867. 

Twelfth Separate (Infantry) 
Company, N. G. S. N. Y., was 
organized December 9, 1884. The 
company's quarters are rooms 10, 11 
and 12, on the second floor of the 
State Armory, on the southeast cor- 
ner of Ferry and River streets. Pres- 
ent officers: Joseph Egolf, captain ; E. 
W. Burrage, first lieutenant ; A. W. 
Hill, second lieutenant. 

Umbrella Factory, Troy.— 

Philip Huff, umbrella and parasol 
manufacturer. No. 72 Congress Street. 
Established, 1876. 

Undertaking .— 

E. W. MiLi.ARD, undertaker and 
dealer in funeral furnishings, No. 51 
Fourth Street. His large collection 
of sample burial caskets contained in 
his admirably appointed warerooms 
embraces those of pine, cedar, chest- 
nut, and oak woods, either plainly or 
elaborately draped with cloth or velvet 
or with both, with or without metallic 
ornamentation. Whatever requisites 
may be desired for the suitable burial 
of the dead, he is able to furnish, be- 
sides providing carriages and all other 
accompaniments for funerals. He is 
also prepared to make interments of 
the dead sent to Troy from distant 
places, and to provide rooms for fu- 
neral services, if needed. Orders can 
be transmitted him by telephone at 
any time. On February i, 1877, he 



engaged in the business at No. 402^ 
Fulton Street, whence he moved, on 
May I, 1881, to his present establish- 
ment, No. 51 Fourth Street, between 
Broadway and Fulton Street. 

Underwriters, Troy, Board 

of, — Office, room 25, Keenan Build- 
ing. Gilbert Geer, jr., president; 
J. B. Wilkinson, jr., secretary; Fred. 
F. Buell, treasurer. 

Unitarian Church, First, is 
on the southwest corner of Fourth 
and State streets. The Rev. Henry 
F. Harrington, pastor of the Unitarian 
Church in Albany, having written 
that he would preach in Troy if those 
desiring to hear him would secure a 
suitable room, William Hagen, George 
Wells, and George Cross obtained the 
use of the mayor's court-room in the 
court-house, in which, on Sunday 
afternoon and evening, June i, 1845, 
the founders of the church in Troy 
attended the first religious services 
conducted by a Unitarian minister. 
On Friday, June 20, at a meeting held 
in the mayor's court-room, Thomas 
Coleman, George Wells, and George 
Cross were appointed an executive 
committee to have charge of the 
affairs of the congregation statedly 
worshiping in the court-house. In 
July, a subscription was circulated to 
obtain money to purchase a building 
in which regular services could be 
held. On August 19, the Presbyterian 
session-house, then standing on the 
present site of the Grand Central 
Theatre, on the west side of Fourth 
Street, between Broadway and State 
Street, was purchased for $2,500 for 
the use of the society. Thomas Cole- 
man, Ammi Brewster, Luke Bemis, 
George Wells, E. B. Strout, H. Z. 
Hayner, A. K. Hadley, George Cross, 
and Franklin Cummings were elected 
trustees of " The First Unitarian 



321 



Society of the city of Troy." On the 
afternoon of November 14, the chapel 
was dedicated ; the dedicatory sermon 
being preached by the Rev. H. F. 
Harrington. In the fall of 1846, the 
edifice was enlarged. In December, 
1874, the building was sold. The 
society, having undertaking the erec- 
tion of a brick church on the lot on 
the southwest corner of Fourth and 
State streets, previously occupied by 
the Quaker meeting-house, worshiped 
in Green's Building, on the southeast 
corner of Broadway and Fourth 
Street. On Thursday, May 20, 1S75, 
the corner-stone of the church was 
laid. It was dedicated December 15, 
that year. Seating capacity, 600. 

Pastors; John Pierpont, August, 
1845, to August, 1849; William Silsbee; 
Joseph Angier, 1851 to 1853 ; Edgar 
Buckingham, April 27, 1853 to 1867 ; 
Newton N. Mann, 1869; H. L. Car- 
gill, 1871 ; George H. Young. April, 
1872, to October, 1876; William H. 
Fish, jr., 1877 to 1885 ; W. H. Spencer, 
September i, 1885 to present time. 

. XJniversalist Church, First, 

west side of Fifth Street, between 
Broadway and State Street. The 
founders of the society in 1822 at- 
tended divine services in the court- 
house. On July 2, that year, Plenry 
Koon, William McManus, Abraham 
L. Lansing, Joseph Weld, James Ad- 
ams, Samuel Smith, and Stephen 
Wood were elected trustees of the 
First Restorationist Church of Troy. 
In the spring of 1823, the erection 
of a house of worship was begun on 
the east side of the alley on the south 
side of Ferry Street, between First 
and Second, on lots no and III, pur- 
chased November 21, 1829. On 
Tuesd:'y, July 29. 1823, the corner- 
stone was laid ; the officers and mem- 
bers of Apollo Lodge, No. 49, Free 
and Accepted Masons, participating 
in the ceremonies. In July, 1829, 



the society changed its name to The 
First Universalist Church of Troy'. 
On April 4, 1834, the building was 
sold to the Second Baptist Society. 
It was a plain wooden structure, with 
a square tower. The building was 
burned December 18^ 1854. On 
April 29, 1834, the site of the present 
church was purchased. The church 
erected on it was dedicated September 
II, 1835 ; the Rev. J. D. Williamson, 
of Albany, preaching the dedicatory 
sermon. In 1875, the church was re- 
built. 

Pastors: Lemuel Willis, 1823; 
Barsilla Streeter; Adolphus Skinner; 
Benjamin Whittemore, 1829-30; L. 
L. Saddler ; Clement F. Lefevre, 
1832-33; Menzies Raynor, 1S36-38; 
Lewis C. Browne, 1839 ; Henry 

B. Soule, 1S42 ; Charles C. Burr, 
1843-45 ; J''hn Moore, 1846 ; W. 
H. Waggoner, 1847-48 ; Josiah 

C, Waldo. 1850-54 ; John N. Parker, 
1855-61 ; James M. Pullman, 1862- 
68 ; J. Murray Bailey, 1869 ; L. M. 
Burrington, 1870-71 ; A. B. Hervey, 
1874-78 ; Charles A. Conklin, 1879- 
80 ; William Taylor, 1882-84 ; F. A. 
Dillingham, 18S5 to July, 1886. 

U. S. steam Carpet Clean- 
ing Works — E. Westervelt, pro- 
prietor. Spring Avenue ; office. No. 
158 Third Street. Established 1876. 

U. S., — Uncle Sam. — Among 
the early emigrants from the New 
England states settling at Troy was 
Samuel Wilson, of Mason, New 
Hampshire. In February, 1789. 
when twenty-two years of age, he and 
his brother Ebenezer trudged, with 
packs on their backs, across the 
mountainous country, east of the Up- 
per Hudson, to the little settlement. 
They, in the following summer, began 
making brick on the west side of 
Mount Ida, near the intersection of 



42 



\ 



323 



Sixth and Ferry streets. On March 
8, 1793. for an annual ground rent of 
thirty shillings, Jacob D. Van der 
Heyden leased to Samuel Wilson the 
west half of the lot on the northwest 
corner of Second and Ferry streets, 
where he erected a small frame dwell- 
ing. About this time, he and his 
brother engaged in the business of 
slaughtering cattle. Some years later 
they built a large slaughter and pack- 
ing house on the north bank of the 
Poesten Kill, a little east of River 
Street. They employed about one 
hundred men, and sometimes slaugh- 
tered in a week more than a thousand 



by the sight of his home. In 1812, 
Samuel and Ebenezer Wilson con- 
tracted with Elbert Anderson, jr., to 
supply him with beef, "packed in full 
bound barrels of white oak," for the 
United States troops then stationed at 
Greenbush. Some of the soldiers had 
enlisted in Troy, and knowing that 
Samuel Wilson had furnished the 
beef packed in the barrels lettered 
U. S., referred to it as "Uncle Sam's." 
Another army contractor having pur- 
chased beef from the Wilsons, adver- 
tised that he had a large supply of 
"Uncle Sam's beef," of a superior 
quality. It soon followed that those 






LUDLOW VALVE MANUFACTURING CO's WORKS. 



head of cattle. Samuel Wilson had 
naturally a friendly disposition, which, 
with his benevolence to the poor, won 
for him the esteem and affection of a 
large circle of acquaintances. Most 
of them familiarly called him " Uncle 
Sam," and this designation was often 
used by his own children. It is re- 
lated that one of them having wan- 
dered away from home, and being 
overcome by a sense of forlornness, 
was found crying bitterly. Having 
been questioned respecting his parent- 
age, he answered that he was "Uncle 
Sam's boy." The information suf- 
ficed, and he was soon made happy 



better informed respecting the ini- 
tials, U. S , supposing that "Uncle 
Sam" was a more appropriate appel- 
lation than Brother Jonathan for the 
assumed personality of the United 
States, gave it currency as the desig- 
nation of those letters. 

Valves. — 

Ludlow Valve Manufacturing 
Company, established its extensive 
works near the northern limits of the 
city in 1872. On its organization in 
1866, the company engaged in /'": 
business at Waterford, in the '^.^ 
building on the west 'side of r^"^" , 



bn'd I 



333 



Street, near the mouth of the Cham- 
plain Canal. Fronting 240 feet on 
Second Avenue, (formerly State Street), 
Lansingburgh, the plat of ground oc- 
cupied by the different buildings of 
the present establishment extends 
with that width 400 feet east- 
wardly to Third Avenue, (formerly 
Whipple Avenue.) The company 
manufactures gas, water, steam, 
and oil valves, check and foot 
valves, yard, wash and fire hydrants, 
which have not only a wide sale 
throughout the United States and 
Canada, but many are sent to for- 
eign countries. The works are com- 
monly designated as located at Nos. 
938 to 954 River Street, and 67 to 
83 Vail Avenue, Troy, whiclr is the 
post-office address of the company. 
Its officers are : Henry G. Ludlow, 
president ; David J. Johnston, vice- 
president; M. D. Schoonmaker, treas- 
urer; John T. Christie, secretary. 

Van Schaick Island, opposite 
the village of Lansingburgh, is a 
mile and a half long and about a half 
mile wide. It is within the limits of 
the city of Cohoes. Between Van 
Schaick Island and Green Island, 
south of it, the second branch of the 
Mohawk River flows into the Hudson. 
Between the island and Haver Island 
north of it, the third branch of the 
Mohawk reaches the Hudson. The 
old homestead of the Van Schaick 
family, built in the last century, is 
still standing on the island. Philip 
Pietersen Schuyler and a certain 
Goosen Gerretsen purchased it from 
the Mohawk Indians in 1664. Pre- 
vious to the construction of the 
state dam in the Hudson, the four 
branches of the Mohawk were forda- 
ble between the adjacent islands at 
the confluence of the Mohawk with 

"^'^ the Hudson. The River Road from 
. Albany to Saratoga (Schuylerville), 

"1 tk ran along the east side of them in the 



last century. It was along the River 
Road that General Burgoyne with his 
British troops and Hessian mercena- 
ries proposed to march to Albany. 
On August 6, 1777, the confident of- 
ficer, then unopposed in his invasion 
of Northern New York, wrote to Sir 
William Howe, that he was "well for- 
ward," and "impatient to gain the 
mouth of the Mohawk," but not like- 
ly "to be in possession of Albany" be- 
fore "the 22d or 23d" of the month. 
Gen. Philip Schuyler, in command of 
the American troops of the northern 
depaitment, was slowly retreating to- 
ward Albany. On August 18, his 
small army, lessened by sickness and 
desertions, reached Haver and Van 
Schaick islands. No little dismay 
and alarm spread through the sur- 
rounding country when it became 
known that Burgoyne was approach- 
ing Albany. Immediately upon the 
encampment of the Army of the North 
on Haver and Van Schaick islands, 
General Schuyler ordered the con- 
struction of a formidable line of earth- 
works along the northeastern and 
northwestern sides of Haver Island 
to defend the approaches to the ford 
at Half Moon Point, as the site of 
Waterford was then called. These 
defensive works, thrown up under the 
superintendence of the brave Pole, 
Thaddeus Kosciusko, chief engineer 
of the Army of the North, are still 
conspicuous and well-preserved. On 
August 20, Major-General Horatio 
Gates succeeded General Schuyler, 
who had his headquarters in the Van 
Schaick homestead. There, on Aug- 
ust 22, General Gates wrote as follows 
to General Washington, then in 
Bucks County, Pennsylvania : 

" Upon my arrival in this depart- 
ment, I found the main body ot the 
army encamped upon Van Schaick's 
Island, which is made by the sprouts 
of the Mohawk joining with Hudson 
River, nine miles north of Albany. A 



324 



brigade under Gen. Poor is encamped at 
Loudon's Ferry, on the south bank of 
the Mohawk River, five miles from 
hence ; a brigade under Gen. Lincoln 
had joined Gen. Stark at Bennington, 
and a brigade under Gen. [Benedict] 
Arnold marched the 15th inst to join 
the militia of Tyron County, to raise 
the siege of Fort Stanwix. Upon 
leaving Philadelphia, the prospect this 
way appeared very gloomy, but the 
severe checks the enemy have met 
with at Bennington and in Tyron 
County have given a more pleasing 
view to public affairs. Particular ac- 
counts of the signal victory gained by 
Gen. Stark, and the severe blow Gen. 
Herkimer gave Sir John Johnson and 
the scalpers under his command have 
been transmitted to your excellency by 
Gen. Schuyler. I anxiously expect 
the arrival of an express from Gen. 
Arnold, with an account of the total 
defeat of the enemy in that quarter. 
By my calculations he reached Fort 
Stanwix the day before yesterday. 
Cols. Livingston's and Courlland's 
regiments arrived yesterday, and im- 
mediately joined Gen. Poor's division. 
I shall also order Gen. Arnold, upon 
his return, to march to that post. I 
cannot sufficiently thank your excel- 
lency for sending Col. Morgan's corps 
to this army. They will be of the 
greatest service to it, for until the 
late successes this way, I am told the 
army were quite panic-struck by the 
Indians and their Tory and Canadian 
assassins in Indian dresses. Hor- 
rible, indeed, have been the cruelties 
they have wantonly committed upon 
many of the miserable inhabitants, 
insomuch that it is now fair for Gen. 
Burgoyne, even if the bloody hatchet 
he has so barbarously desired should 
find its way into his own head. Gov. 
Clinton will be here to-day. Upon 
his arrival, I shall consult with him 
and Gen. Lincoln upon the best plan 
to distress, and, I hope, finally to de- 



feat the enemy. I am sorry to be 
necessitated to acquaint your excel- 
lency how neglectfully your orders 
have been executed at Springfield — 
few of the militia demanded are yet 
arrived, but I hear of great numbers 
upon the march. Your excellency's 
advice in regard to Moigan's corps, 
etc., etc., shall be carefully observed. 
My scouts and spies inform me that 
the enemy's headquarters and main 
body are at Saratoga, [Schuyletville], 
and that they have lately been repair- 
ing the biidges between that place 
and Stillwater. As soon as time and 
circumstances will admit, 1 shall send 
your excellency a general return of 
this army. 1 am, sir, your excel- 
lency'^most ob't servant, 

Horatio Gates." 
The Army of the Nonh, about 
6,000 strong, having been largely re- 
inforced and provided with clothing 
and ammunition, broke camp on Sep- 
tember 8, and marched toward Still- 
water, where it arrived the next day. 
As is known. General Burgoyne sur- 
rendered to Gen. Gates at Schuylei- 
viUe, then known as Saratoga, en 
October 17, 1777. 

Varnish Manufacturers. — 

De Golyer & Brother, (Joseph 
and Watts De Golyer), varnish manu- 
facturers, No. 113 Sixth Street. The 
business was begun by Joseph De 
Golyer in 1847. 

Wall Paper. 

James F. Ashley & Co., wholesale 
and retail dealers in wall-paper and 
window shades, art-goods and import- 
ed rugs. No. 267 River Street. Wil- 
liam T. Smith, the founder of this 
long-established paper-hangings house, 
began the business in 1835, at No. 
265 River Street. His successors, A. 
& W. Orr, occupied the building in 
1839. William W. Whitman and A. 



325 



O. Vosburgh, under the firm name of 
Whitman & Vosburgh, succeeded 
them in 1859. ^^ No. 267 River Street. 
William W. Whitman continued the 
business from' 1862 to 1877, when Oli- 
ver Wemett, who had been engaged 
in the same business from 1852, pur- 
chased his interest and stock. James 
F. Ashley in 1882, and James F. 
Ashley & Co. in 1883, became Oliver 
Wemeft's successors. 




George J. Brennan, dealer in 
wall-paper and window shades, house 
decorator, and general painter, No. 
62 Congress Street, engaged in busi- 
ness in Troy in 1862, with John My- 
ers, at No. 97 Third Street, under the 
firm name of Myers & Brennan. In 
the fall of 1862, George J. Brennan 
succeeded to the business. In Febru- 



ary, 1866, he and John S. Perry form- 
ed the partnership of Perry & Bren- 
nan, doing business at No. 66 Con- 
gress and No. 97 Third streets. On 
the firm's dissolution, May 10, 1873, 
George J Brennan continued the bus- 
iness at No. 62 Congress Street until 
February i, 1876, when his son, Wil- 
liam H. Brennan became associated 
with him as a partner; the firm taking 
the name of George J. Brennan & 
Son, Since February i, 1878, George 
J. Brennan has conducted the busi- 
ness. 

Henry Lobdell & Co., wholesale 
and retail dealers in wall papers and 
window shades, Kennedy Building, 
No. 13 Third Street, between River 
Street and Broadway. The use of 
wall-papers or paper-hangings, as 
they are frequently called, for the in- 
tenor decoratkon of buildings is now 
so common that few houses are with- 
out them. Cheap or expensive, as the 
buyer's means may purchase, they 
give an attractive and finished ap- 
pearance to the walls of a parlor, 
dining-rooni, hall or library, which 
cannot be obtained except by a heavy 
outlay of money for frescoing and 
painting. The modern and antique 
styles contained in the large stock of 
wall-papers of Lobdell & Co. are so 
varied in design and so pleasing in 
effect that in making a selection of a 
particular paper there is a constant 
surprise on finding so many harmonies 
of colors blended in the different 
patterns so richly and artistically 
elaborated. The display of window- 
shades in the spacious salesroom of 
the firm embraces the latest and most 
popular designs of the principal manu- 
facturers. Under the name of Henry 
Lobdell & Co., the firm engaged in 
the business at No. 13 Third Street, 
in 1876. Besides being extensive 
dealers in paper hangings, paper 
borders, and window shades, the firm 



326 



employs a corps of skilled decorators 
for interior work, for which Lobdell 
& Co. have acquired no little distinc- 
tion in Troy. 

Chauncey D. Bradt, dealer in 
wall-paper, and general painter, Nos. 
407 and 409 Federal Street, began 
business in Troy, in August, 1880. 

Washington Square. — The 

triangular space, bounded by Broad- 
way, Second, and River streets, was 
laid out in 1787 as lot 132, on the 
map of Vanderheyden, as the site of 
Troy was then called. On February 
20, 1792, Jacob D. Van der Heyden 
leased it to James Spencer, who built 
on the southeast corner of the plat a 
two-story, brick dwelling. Twenty 
years later, on the lot, at the angle of 
Albany (Broadway) and River streets, 
was a flat-roofed, two-story, frame 
building, with a narrow veranda. In 
the basement of the house was the 
bakery of John Lantrow. On the 
first floor weie the apartments of 
Madame Kelly, a fashionable milliner. 
On the River Street side, and north of 
it, was another frame building, in 
which was the grocery of Jacob and 
Philip Dater. Beyond it, on the cor- 
ner of River and Second streets, was 
a third, two-story, weather-boarded 
building ; the rooms on the first floor 
being occupied by a shoemaker, and 
those on the second by a tailor. A 
street-pump was at the curb of the 
sidewalk in front of ihis building. 
On July I, 1815, James Spencer sold 
his lot and its buildings to Jacob and 
Philip Daler for $5,000. Sometime 
previous to this conveyance of the 
property, a subscription paper had 
been circulated, and sufficient money 
obtained to make the purchase. By 
an agreement, made by certain mer- 
chants and other persons owning 
buildings in the vicinity, Jacob and 



Philip Dater were to convey the lot to 
the city of Troy after the removal of 
the brick house and the three wooden 
buildings on it. On June 5, 1816, 
the Daters conveyed the plat to the 
mayor, recorder, aldermen, and com- 
monalty of the city of Troy, "for a 
publick street or open common, to be 
at all times by them kept open and 
unencumbered with any building or 
buildings, and for the free and pub- 
lick use of the inhabitants of the said 
city." The city, it seems, never ac- 
cepted the gift. On September 3. 
1818, the common council gave it the 
name of Washington Square. Those 
who had subscribed money for its pur- 
chase defrayed, for many years there- 
after, the expenses of improving it. 
About the year 1835, a marble foun- 
tain, 15 feet high, with three basins, 
was erected on it. In 1848, Thomas 
W. Lockwood, then a member of the 
firm of Lockwood & Orvis, No. 257 
River Street, was made treasurer of 
the Washington Square fountain fund. 
He. in August, 1848. disbursed about 
$200 for the repair of the fountain and 
the erection of the iron fence now in 
the square. On the removal of the 
fountain, some years later, Charles L. 
Richards planted the trees which are 
now within the circular enclosure. 

Waste, ATOolen and cotton. — 

Frank B. Graves, wholesale deal- 
er in cotton and wool waste, rubber, 
iron, and metals, No. 137 River 
Street. Frank B. Graves & Co. en- 
gaged in the business in i88c. 

John Trautwein, dealer in paper 
stock and old metals, No. 137 River 
Street, engaged in the business in 
1870. 

Troy Waste Manufacturing 
Company, successors to C. & P. Mc- 
Carthy, office. No. 461 River Street ; 
mill southeast corner of Saratoga and 



327 



Courtland streets, Colioes. Tncorpo- 
raled February i, 1SS3. Capital, 
$100,000. Officers: Henry A. Mer- 
ritt. president ; Peter McCarthy, 
treasurer ; Charles Mahoney, secre- 
tary. 

Watchmakers and Jewelers. 

Among the persons to engage in 
this business soon after the village was 
called Troy, was Nathaniel Adams. 
(See Burden Iron Co.) James 
Young, the father of William H, 
Young, bookseller and stationer, when 
fourteen years of age, came to Troy 
in 1796, and entered the former's em- 
ploy as an apprentice. In 1809, 
James Young became a member of the 
firm of Young & Bell, watchmakers 
and jewelers, successors to Adams & 
Whipple. On its dissolution, not 
long afterward, he continued in the 
business at No. 165 River Street and 
afterward at No. 9 Congress Street, 
until 1837, when in consequence of 
ill-health, he retired from it. 

James W. Cusack, jeweler and 
watchmaker, No. 3 Times Building, 
continues the business begun by Abra- 
ham Fellows, in the year 1812, in the 
building, No. 197 River Street, burn- 
ed in the fire of 1820. The latter's 
successors were Dennis & Fitch, (Ste- 
phen A. Dennis and Dennis A. Fitch) 
No. 197 River Street, 1835 ; Dennis 
M. Fitch, No. 197 River Street, 1841; 
Fitch & Cusack, (Edward Cusack), 
No. 200 River Street, 1853 ; James 
W. Cusack, under the name of Fi.ch 
& Cusack, February I, 1855; James 
W. Cusack, February i, 1857 ; James 
il W. Cusack & Co., (William F. Clen- 
dinnen). No. 248 River Street, 1866 ; 
James W. Cusack, 1871, who, in 1872, 
moved to his present store in the 
Times Building. Besides having a 
large and complete slock of American 
and foreign-made watches, French 
clocks, jewelry, precious stones, gold 



and silver wares, he largely imports 
each season the latest elaborations of 
foreign manufacturers. 

L. C. Champney, watchmaker and 
jeweler, No. 363 Broadway, corner of 
Fourth Street. Watch and jewelry 
repairing a specialty. In 1846, he be- 
came a partner of George Fisher, and 
on October 6, that year, succeeded to 
the business. The line of succession, 
beginning with George Fisher, watch- 
maker. No. 21 Congress Stieet, 1838, 
was connectedly, Fay & Fisher, No. 
13 Congress Street, 1S41 ; George 
Fisher & Co., 1842 ; George Fisher, 
1844; Fisher & Champney, 1S46 : 
Lewis C. Champney, October 6, 1846; 
at 4 Cannon Place, in 1855 ; at No. 
5 Albany Street, 1857 ; Champney & 
Felton, No. 19 Franklin Street, 1859; 
broken m i860 and 1861 ; L. C. 
Champney, No. 12 Third Street, 
1862; at No. 344 River Street. 1863 ; 
at No. 412 Fulton Street, 1S68 ; at 
No. 358 Broadway, 1870 ; L. C. 
Champney & Co., 1875 ; L. C. 
Champney, 1878 ; at No. 363 Broad- 
way, 1880. 

EM.A.NUEL Marks, watchmaker and 
jeweler, No. 282 River Street, en- 
gaged in the business in 1854, at No. 
88 Congress Street. 

William Platt, jeweler and 
watchmaker. No. 268 River Street, 
began business in 1859, at No. 268J 
River Street. 

P. H. Salmson, manufacturer of 
jewelry and dealer in watclies, dia- 
monds, jewelry, and silver ware, No. 
270 River Street, engaged in the bus- 
iness, September, 1859, o" ^^*^ second 
floor of the building on the northeast 
corner of River and State streets. 

M. Timpane, watchmaker and jew- 
eler. No. 302 River Street, with Hen- 
ry W Sherrill, under the firm-name 
of Timpane & Sherrill, succeeded in 



328 



t874. to the business established by 
Thomas Goldsmith in 1842, at No. 
242 River Street. Since 1875, he has 
individually conducted the business. 

Andrew Aird, jeweler and watch- 
maker, 4 Mansion House Block, en- 
gaged in the business in 1875. 

Samuel C. Tappin, jeweler and 
watchmaker, No. 286 River Street, 
began business at the same place in 
1877. His goods of foreign manufac- 
ture are obtained by direct importa- 
tion. 

F. W. Sim, (successor to Thomas 
Goldsmith,) jeweler, watchmaker, and 
optician, No. 246 River Street. From 
1875 to 18S5 he was in the em- 
ploy of Thomas Goldsmith, who, in 
September, 1875, re-engaged in the 
business, at No. 236 River Street, 
and in which he continued until Feb- 
ruary I, 1885, when he sold his interest 
and stock to F. W. Sim. On May t, 
1886, the latter occupied his present 
store. No. 246 River Street. (See 
Addenda.) 

Rappaport & BoNTECOU, watch- 
makers and jewelers, No. 236 River 
Street. The firm's attractive and valu- 
able stock includes gold and silver 
watches of home and foreign manufac- 
ture, French and American clocks, 
plain and artistic jewelry, precious 
stones of all kinds, solid and plated 
silver ware, bronzes, spectacles, opera 
glasses, and specialties for wedding 
presents. The firm was formed May 
I, 1886. Markus W. Rappaport, an 
experienced watchmaker from Lem- 
berg, Austria, entered the employ of 
Thomas Goldsmith in 1875, and took 
charge of his watch-making and re- 
pairing department. The latter sold 
the former his interest in this part 
of the business in February, 1885. 
D. Frank Bontecou was, from 1869 to 
1877, in the employ of A. Rumrill & 
Co., the well-known firm of jewelers, 



on Broadway, New York, and with 
their successors, Jaques & Marcus, 
on the southwest corner of Union 
Square and 17th Street, from 1877 to 
1880. In each of the two depart- 
ments of their business, the jewelry, 
and the watch-making and repairirg, 
the members of the firm have, baih 
by experience and skilled attainments, 
the qualifications desirable for their 
continued success in the business. 

DoRiNG Brothers, dealers in 
watches, clocks, jewelry, and musical 
instruments, southwest corner of Ful- 
ton and Fourth streets. Charles F. 
and Joseph C. Doring formed the 
firm, September 16, 1882. 

Waterford. — The village of 
Waterford, at the extreme southtast 
corner of Saratoga County, is four and 
a quarter miles from the courthouse 
in Troy. Its site was a part of the 
territory possessed by the Mohawk 
Indians. They called it Maihahe- 
naack. On May 27, 1664, Philip 
Pietersen Schuyler and a certain Goo- 
sen Gerretsen, residents of the village 
of Beaverswyck, (Albany), addressed 
a petition to the director-general and 
council of New Netherland, requesting 
permission to purchase from the Ma- 
hikanders "a certain plain, called by 
the Dutch the Half Moon, situate at 
the third or fourth mouth of the 
Mohawk River, with an island be- 
tween the second and third mouth." 
Some of the " English of Conneti- 
kot " desired to buy the land, but the 
Indian proprietors preferrtd to sell it 
to the petitioners, and tlie latter wished 
to possess it " to keep the English 
away from this river." Pieter Stuyve- 
sant, the Dutch director-general, and 
the members of his council consent- 
ed, July 10, that year, to the request, 
on the condition that if the land 
should thereafter be found to be with- 
in the limits of Rensselaerswyck, 



;l"J 



that the petitioners should acknowl- 
edge the ownershi]) and jurisdiction 
of the patroon of the manor. The 
"foreland of the Half Moon," the site 
of the village, was immediately south 
of the north line of the great estate of 
the Van Rensselaer family. On Oc- 
tober lo, 1680, Roeloff Gerritse Van 
der Werken purchased the foreland. 
John I. Van der Werken, of Half 
Moon, on May 16, 1783, sold it for 
;^i,ooo to Jacobus Van Schoonhoven, 
of the same place, George Palmer and 
Daniel Dickison of Stillwater, Gideon 
Morgan of Litchfield County, Con- 
necticut, Ezra Hicock of Sheffield "in 
the state of Massachusetts Bay," and 
Isaac Averill of Kings District in Al- 
bany County. A half morgen of land, 
which included ''the burying-ground 
on the said farm," was excepted in the 
conveyance of the land. The six 
purchasers employed Flores Bancker 
to lay out the property into village 
lots. The place which had for some 
years been called Half Moon Point, 
was then given the name of Water- 
ford. This designation was deemed 
appropriate, for the Hudson an 1 
fourth branch of the Mohawk were 
fordable at its site. By the "act to ap- 
point trustees to take and hold certain 
lands therein mentioned," passed by 
the legislature, March 25, 1794, 
Hezekiah Ketcham, Jacobus Van 
Schoonhoven, Matthew Gregory, Isaac 
Keeler, John Pettit, Duncan Oli- 
phant, and Thomas Smith were ap- 
pointed "trustees for the freeholders 
and inhabitants of that part of the 
town of Half Moon commonly called 
Waterford." By this act of incorpo- 
ration, the freeholders and inhabitants 
were authorized to make such rules 
and regulations necessary for " the 
cleaning and keeping in order and re- 
pair the common streets and highways 
in Waterford," and "to compel the 
housekeepers" in the village " to fur- 
nish themselves with a sufficient num- 



ber of tire-buckets and with necessary 
tools and implements for extinguish- 
ing of fires," and to appoint a number 
of men, not exceeding hfteen, to have 
the care of the engine or engines be- 
longing to the freeholders. 

The opening of the bridge, between 
the village and Lansingburgh, De- 
cember 3, 1804, was enthusiastically 
celebrated by the people of the two 
places. While cannon were fired, a 
large procession marched from Lan- 
singburgh across the bridge to Water- 
ford, where a dinner was served at the 
expense of the bridge directors. " It 
is with much pleasure," the Waterford 
Gazeffe remarked, "we announce the 
completion of the bridge at this place, 
which for architectural strength and 
beauty exceeds, perhaps, anything of 
the kind in the United States. On 
examination, it will be found that its 
symmetry is just in all its parts, which 
reflects the highest honor on the en- 
gineer, Mr. Theodore Burr." The 
bridge was Soo feet long and 30 wide, 
having four arches, supported by three 
stone pillars and two stone butments. 
Cost, $50,000. 

The village is described in Spafford's 
Gazetteer of the state of New York of 
1813: Waterford, four miles north 
of Troy, " is the most populous town 
in the county [Saratoga], and has by 
far the most trade. * * * xhe 
Hudson, however, can hardly be called 
navigable to this place at present, 
and its trade is principally carried on 
in flat-bottomed boats, scow-built, and 
rigged with sails. * * * The vil- 
lage is handsomely laid out on 5 E. 
and W. streets, intersected by others 
at right angles. There are now igo 
houses and stores, a large proportion 
of which are of brick, two houses of 
worship and some other buildings. 
* * * Just at the point, a rolling 
dam is thrown across the Mohawk, 
which supplies some mills. * * * 
Since the above was written, I learn 



43 



330 



that a wharf 320 yards in length was 
constructed in 1812, at great expense 
and labor, together with a canal chan- 
nel extending along it to the channel 
of the Hudson. The wharf leads 
from the point into the Hudson, on an 
angle of about 45°, inclining down- 
wards." 

The present bridge, between the 
village and Lansingburgh, was built 
in 1812-14, at a cost of $20,000. 

In 1819, Mrs. Emma Willard opened 
a girls' school in the vacant building, 
previously Samuel Demarest's tavern, 
on the site of the Morgan House, on 
Broad Street, which she conducted until 
she moved to Troy in 1821, and estab- 
lished there the Troy Female Seminary. 
The village, in 1824, contained about 
900 inhabitants. Two churches, a 
brick school-house, a girls' academy, 
a public building, called Mechanics' 
Hall, and about 2co houses were 
within its corporate limits. On the 
completion of the Champlain Canal, 
in 1823, the village began to enlarge 
its business interests, and a number of 
manufactories were established there 
shortly afterward. The construction 
of the state dam at Troy greatly im- 
proved the navigation of the Hudson 
between it and Waterford. In 1828- 
2g, the canal along the west side of 
the north branch of the Mohawk was 
designed and constructed by John F. 
King, from Coleraine, Mass. In 
1 83 1, it was extended from the site 
of J. M. King & Co.'s die works 
to its present termination. In 1836, 
the village contained four churches, 
two academies, a lyceum, where 
monthly lectures were given on moral, 
literary, and scientific subjects, a 
printing office from which a weekly 
paper was issued, four flouring mills, 
a twine factory, an ink manufactory, 
two large machine shops, two foun- 
dries, a cotton-cloth factory, a tan- 
nery, three saw-mills, a plaster and 
cement mill, nineteen stores, eight 



taverns, a slaughtering establishment 
in which, in 1835, 5,217 barrels of 
beef were packed, a bank, and about 
200 dwellings. 

On Saturday afternoon, July 11, 
1841, about 4 o'clock, a stable in the 
rear of the Episcopal Church, on the 
west side of Third Street, between 
Broad and Middle streets, was dis- 
covered on fire. A stiff breeze, blow- 
ing from the northwest, carried sparks 
and flaming brands across Third, 
Second, and Broad streets. The vil- 
lage firemen, with their hand-engine, 
were incapable to oppose with success 
the spreading flames. Cohoes, Lan- 
singburgh, Troy, and West Troy 
firemen, with nine engines, came as 
quickly as possibly to aid in suppress- 
ing them. About six o'clock, that 
evening, the fire was under control. 
Besides the Episcopal Church, 28 
stores, 30 dwellings and 70 other 
buildings were burned ; the greater 
number having been on the east and 
west sides of Third and Second 
Streets, between Broad and Middle 
streets, and on the south and north 
sides of Broad Street, between Third 
and First Streets. The loss was esti- 
mated to be about 1150,000. The 
spectacle of the furniture-filled side- 
walks, the working firemen, the ex- 
cited householders, the flaming build- 
ings, and thronging spectators is still 
vivid in the memories of the older 
people of the village. 

The Saratoga County Bank was in- 
corporated May 29, 1830, with a capi- 
tal stock of $roo,ooo. On July 14, 
that year, the directors elected John 
Knickerbacker president, and Jona- 
than H. Douglass cashier. The bank 
began business in a building immedi- 
ately east of one on the northeast 
corner of Broad rmd Second streets. 
Both were burned in the fire of 1841. 
The books, papers, and money were 
safely removed from the bank. The 
present bank building, on the north- 



331 



east corner of Broad and Second 
streets, was erected after the fire. In 
May, 1865, the bank was reorganized 
under the national banking laws. In 
1 87 1, it again became a state bank. 
On the niglit of October 13, 1872, 
it was robbed by a number of 
masked men. They first gained en- 
trance to the dwelling of the cashier, 
D. M. Van Hoevenburgh. Having 
gagged and bound him and the mem- 
bers of his family, the robbers com- 
pelled him to unlock the bank vault, 
from which they took papers and 
money valued at about $300,000. By 
compromise some of the papers were 
returned. The bank discontinued 
business in 1885. 

The corner-stone of the town-hall 
was laid September 16, 1873. 

Eight newspapers have been pub- 
lished in Wateriord. The Waterford 
Gazette, first published by Horace H. 
Wadsworth, was issued on Tuesday, 
October 27, 1801. It was discon- 
tinued in 1 81 6. Waterford Reporter, 
William L. Fisk, 1822. Anti-Masonic 
Recorder, J. C. Johnson, 1830, Wa- 
terford Atlas, W. Hollands & Co., 
December, 1832. In 1834, the name 
was changed to the Waterford Atlas 
and Manufacturers, Mechanics, and 
Fari?ters' jfournal. Its publication 
was shortly afterward discontinued. 
The Democratic Champion, H. Wil- 
bur, 1840. The Waterford Sentinel, 
Andrew Hoffman, May iS, 1850. In 
1658, it was sold to J. H. Masten ; 
afterward to William T. Baker ; in 

1870, to Hayward & Palmateer ; in 

1871, to S. A. Hathaway. In April, 

1872, R. D. Palmateer began the 
publication of The Waterford Adver- 
tiser. In July, 1873, he purcliased 
the Sentbiel, the publication of which 
was then discontinued. Since Octo- 
ber I, 18S2, the Advertiser has been 
published by Palmateer & Smith, at 
No. 34 Fourth Street. 

In 1886, tlie village began to be 



supplied with water by the Water- 
ford Water Works Company, formed 
in 1885. 

West Waterford, a station on the 
Delaware & Hudson Canal Company's 
railroad, is immediately west of the 
Champlain canal, the west boundary 
of the village of Waterford. The 
former has a population of about 
450. Dial (or Doyle) City is the 
name of the collection of houses, 
south of the Champlain canal, about 
the intersection of South and Sixth 
streets. Population, about 375. Be- 
tween West Waterford and the Mo- 
hawk river, opposite Cohoes, is the 
village called Northside. Population, 
about 760, 

Population of Waterford in 1880, 
1,822. 

There are four churches in the village. 
The first church erected in the place 
was that of the Reformed Protestant 
Dutch congregation, built in 1799, on 
the southwest corner of Third and 
Middle streets. It is said that the 
material was that of the first meeting- 
house erected, about the time of the 
revolutionary war, by the same con- 
gregation, a mile and a half north of 
the village. The elders and deacons 
of the Reformed Protestant Dutch 
Church in Half Moon were incorpo- 
rated, January 10, 1789. At the be- 
ginning of this century, the Presby- 
terian congregation worshiped in the 
church. The congregation of the 
Dutch Church liaving become dis- 
organized, the building was sold in 
1876, and removed. 

Grace, Episcopal, Church, is on the 
west side of Third Street, between 
Middle and Broad Streets. On the 
institution of the Rev. David Butler, 
rector of St. Paul's parish, Troy, and 
of Trinity, Lansingburgh, in 1S06, he 
conducted every Sunday one service 
in Troy and one in Lansingburgh, 
except on every fourth Sunday, wiien 
he officiated in Waterford. The or- 



382 



ganization of Grace Church was effect- 
ed, September 17, 1810, by the elec- 
tion of its first wardens and vestry- 
men, who were that day incorporated 
as such of Grace Church. On July i, 
181 1, the congregation purchased the 
Methodist meeting-house, standing on 
the site of the present church. Hav- 
ing been refitted, the building was 
consecrated August 30, 1813. It was 
burned in the fire of 1841. The 
present brick building, erected shortly 
afterward, was enlarged and refitted 
in 1865. 

First Presbyterian Church, on 
the southeast corner of Third and 
Division streets. About the close of 
the last century, the Presbyterians in 
the village organized themselves into 
a congregation, and for a time wor- 
shiped with the members of the Re- 
formed Protestant Dutch Church in 
their meeting-house. By invitation of 
the congregation of the First I'resby- 
terian Church of Lansingburgh, the 
Presbyterians of Waterford united 
with the former in calling the Rev. 
Samuel Blatchford, who was installed 
pastor of the two churches, July 18, 
1804, and which he served 24 years. 
From 1804 to 1826, the congregation 
held its services in the Dutch Church. 
In January, 1826, the use of Classic 
Hall, on First Street, was obtained, 
in which the congregation worshiped 
until the present church was erected. 
In September, 1826, the building was 
dedicated. In the fall of 1865, the 
work of enlarging and refitting it was 
begun. On the evening of May 10, 
1866, the church was re-dedicated. 

First Baptist Church is on the 
east side of Third Street, between 
Middle and Broad streets. The so- 
ciety was organized in 1821, and wor- 
shiped for many years in the village 
.school-house. In 1842, the first 
meeting-house, built of brick, was 
erected on the site of the present 



church. In 1867, it was enlarged and 
refitted. 

Methodist Episcopal Church, 
is on the east side of Third Street, 
between Middle and South streets. 
About the beginning of the century 
the Methodists built a meeting-house 
on the west side of Third Street, be- 
tween Middle and Broad streets. On 
July I, 181 1, it was sold to the con- 
gregation of Grace Episcopal Church. 
The first appointment for Waterford 
was made in 1830. Not long after- 
ward the congregation built the second 
meeting-house. 

St. Mary'.s Roman Catholic 
Church is on the east side of Sixth 
Street, in West Wa'erford. 

There are only a few manufacturing 
establishments in Waterford. 'Jhe 
greater number are outside the village 
limits, in Dial City, and along King's 
Canal, and at Northside. 

Button Fire Engine Company, 
Holroyd & Co., manufacturers ot 
steam and hand fire-engines, hose car- 
riages and carts, fire apparatus, and 
power pumps. Third Street, near the 
Champlain Canal. The construction 
and mechanism of the well-known 
Button fire-engines have given (hem a 
marked superiority over all others 
made in this country. Durable, pow- 
erful in action, operating without vi- 
bration, they embody all those excel- 
lencies desirable in first-class fire- 
engines. The inventor, Lysander 
Button, began manufacturing them on 
December 8, 1834, at his engine works 
on King's Canal. His successors 
were L. Button & Co.. (N. B. Doe) ; 
L. Button, 1856; Button & Blake, 
(Robert Blake,) 1858 ; L. Button. 
1863 ; L. Button & Son, (T, E. But- 
ton,) 1870; and Holroyd & Co., 
(James, William, and George E. Hol- 
royd,) July, 1882. In 1850, the works 
on Third Street were occupied. Dur- 



338 

ing the past half-century, the Button makes a specialty of sawing thin lum- 

fireengines, with their notable im- ber, one-eighth, three-sixteenth, and 

provements have acquired a rare dis- one-quarter of an inch in thick- 

tinction for their effectiveness and ness, from the largest and choicest 

attractive workmanship wherever they pine logs brought from Michigan, 

have been used in the United States, Some of the logs are 90 feet long and 

Canada, South America, and Europe, from 20 to 40 inches in diameter. 




litTTON FIRE ENGINE COMPANY S WORKS. 



W.\TERFORD Sawing Mills, Wil- 
liam Burtons' Sons, sawers and deal- 
ers in mahogany and fancy woods, 
picture and looking-glass hacks, cigar- 
box wood, brush blocks and veneers, 
pine, oak. and chestnut bill timber, 
(Dial City), south side of Chaniplain 
Canal. The woods sawed are mostly 
imported ones. Mahogany and cedar 
from Mexico and the West Indies ; 
rosewood from Brazil, and satinwood 
from San Domingo. Cigar box lum- 
ber is manufactured from Spanish 
cedar, and from various imitations of 
it made from domestic woods. Red 
cedar from Florida is sawed for cab- 
inet work and wardrobes. The firm 



The thin pine is used for a variety of 
purposes ; looking glass and picture 
backs, pattern lumt)er,and fancy boxes. 
The business was begun in Cohoes, 
in 1S35, by Hawes & Goodwin, who, 
in 1836, were succeeded by Hawes & 
Baker, which firm, in 1838, sold their 
mill to Levi Silliman. In 1840, Wil- 
liam Burton, the father of William 
E. and Benjamin P. Burton, the mem- 
bers of the present firm, made Cohoes 
his residence, and there, with John M. 
Tremain, engaged in the business. 
In 1S44, William Burton purchased 
his partner's interest, and the ma- 
chinery and good-will of Levi Silli- 
man. The firm of William Burton cS: 



334 



Co., (James Burton) was then formed 
and a veneer and saw-mill erected by 
it, on the east side of Erie Street, 
Some years later, William Burton 
succeeded to the business, and in 1872 
moved to Waterford and purchased 
the saw-mill on the site of the present 
one. The firm of William Burton's 
Sons was formed May I, 1881. Its 
business is extensive and widely 
known. 

Stocks and Dies J. M. King cS: 
Co., manufacturers of button pliers, 
slocks, rind dies, taper, plug, and pipe 
taps, and reamers, King's Canal. The 
works were established in 1829 by 
Daniel B. King. The firm of J. M. 
King & Co. was formed in 1S49. On 
the decease of J. M. King in 1871, 
Mary E. Daniels inherited his interest 
in the business. Thomas Breslin, a 
member of the present firm, was ad- 
mitted July I, 1867, 

Holroyd & Co., manufacturers of 
stocks and dies, taper, plug, and pipe 
taps for machinists, blacksmiths, and 
gas-fitters, King's Canal. The first 
works were built in 1847 by James 
Holroyd. In 1864, the present estab- 
lishment was erected. About thirty 
workmen are employed. The mem- 
bers of the firm are James, William, 
and George E. Holroyd. 

Gage Machine Works. George 
Gage, manufacturer of knitting, brush, 
and papermill machinery, lathes, 
steam engines, shafting, pulleys, and 
other gearing. King's Canal. He 
established the works on the canal in 
1834, having made Waterford his 
residence, June 15, 1829. John E. 
Gage is superintendent of the works. 

Hudson Valley Knitting Com- 
pany's mill, on the noitheast corner 
of Hudson and Fifth streets, was in 
part originally the flouring mill of 
Townsend M.Vail& Sons. Dows, Hoi- 
royd, & Safely, in 1871, refitted it for 



a knitting mill. The Hudson Valley 
Knitting Company, incorporated No- 
vember 8, 1877; E. W. Scott, presi- 
dent ; Francis A. Fales, treasurer ; 
John Consalus, George W. Chapman, 
and K. B. Dowsley, purchased the 
property in 1877. The company runs 
seven sets of cards, employs about 125 
operatives, and manufactures men, 
women, and children's fine underwear, 
white and colored. 

Massasoit Knitting Mills, Ed- 
ward G. Munson, manufacturer of 
men, women, and children's seam- 
knitted, white underwear, at the north 
side of the Mohawk River, opposite 
the state dam, at Cohoes. The mills 
are on the site of the Shatemuck 
Flouring Mills, burned July 26, 1869. 
The Munson Manufacturini; Com- 
pany was formed in February, 1872, 
by Garry Munson, (deceased, 1883,) 
Edward G. Munson, George Camp- 
IdcII, and John Clute. The present 
proprietor, Edward G. Munson, em- 
jiloys 125 operatives and runs seven 
sets of machinery. Post-office address, 
Cohoes, N. Y. 

Diamond Knitting Mills, J. W. 
Himes, manufacturer of men and 
women's white and scarlet, high grade, 
knit underwear, between the north 
branch of the Mohawk River and the 
Champlain Canal, Northside. In 
1868, he engaged in the business in 
Cohoes, and established there the 
Diamond Knitting Mills, on the west 
side of Remsen Street. In January, 
1870, he and A. C. Vail formed the 
firm of Himes and Vail. They pur- 
chased, in 1878, the House and Fulton 
Flour Mill property on the north side 
of the Mohawk River, near the state 
dam, and erected there the present 
Diamond Mills. Since the dissolu- 
tion of the firm in 1883, J. W. Himes 
has continued the manufacture of knit 
goods, employing about 250 opera- 
tives. His post-office address is Co- 



335 



hoes, N. Y. He sells his goods direct 
to the trade. 

Waterford Kniiting Company, 
manufaclurers of scarlet, knit under- 
wear, King's Canal. J. W. Himes, 
president; Thomas Breslin, treasurer; 
M. E. Daniels, secretary. The com- 
pany was formed January, i8S6, and 
refitted the Rock Island Flouring 
Mills previously owned by J. B. Enos 
& Co., erected about the year 1863. 
The company employs about 80 
operatives. Its goods are sold direct 
to the trade from the Diamond Mills. 

Mohawk and Hudson Paper 
Mill, Frank Gilbert proprietor and 
manufacturer of printing paper. 
King's Canal. In 1872, the Mohawk 
and Hudson Paper Company began 
manufacturing paper on the site of the 
present mill. In 1876, Frank Gil- 
bert, one of the members of the com- 
pany, purchased its interest. Six tons 
of printing paper are made daily at 
the mill, in which 45 men are employ- 
ed. The firm of Gilbert & Bell (F. 
H. Bell,) has a pulp-mill, on Saratoga 
Street, Cohoes, near the street-railway 
bridge across the Champlain Canal. 

The works of the Mohawk & Hud- 
son Manufacturing Company are in 
Dial City, south of the Champlain 
Canal. A lampblack factory, and 
three more knitting mills are to be 
included in the number of Waterford's 
manufactories. 



Water Works, Troy.— About 
the beginning of the century the vil- 
lage was supplied with water by the 
Aqueduct Water Works, through 
wooden pipes from a spring on the 
western declivity of Mount Ida, east 
of Liberty Street. On July i, 1806, 
an ordinance was passed by the vil- 
lage trustees "to preserve the unne- 
cessary waste of water" brought to 
the village by " the aqueducts." 



An act " to incorporate the pro- 
prietors of the Earthern Conduit Com- 
pany of Troy," was passed by the 
legislature, June 16, 1812. By the 
"act to incorporate the proprietors of 
the Conduit Company of Troy," passed 
April 13, 1814, the company was per- 
mitted to use cast-iron pipes ; the man- 
ufacture of which had been begun 
about that time at Salisbury, Conn. 

The act incorporating the Troy 
Water Works was passed April i8, 
1829 ; the stock was not to exceed 
$250,000. By the act passed, March 
20, 1832, the company w as permitted to 
sell its property to the city. It was 
conveyed, and the construction of a 
series of reservoirs was begun in the 
spring of 1833, on the Piscawen Kill, 
where now is the distributing reser- 
voir, west of Oakwood Avenue. The 
aggregate capacity of the several res- 
ervoirs was 1,009,359 gallons. In 
1843 and 1S53, other reservoirs were 
constructed along the Piscawen Kill, 
west and east of Oakwood Avenue. 
The total cost of the Troy Water 
Works, March i, 1848, was $160,496,- 
37. There were then 59,497 feet of 
pipes distributing water through the 
city. 

By the act, passed March 9. 1855, 
Harvey Smith, William F. Sage, 
Thomas Symonds, Joseph M.Warren, 
and Liberty Gilbert were appointed 
by the legislature water commissioners 
of Tioy. Their successors were to 
be elected by a vote of two-thirds of 
the members of the common council. 
In 1859-60, 1862, 1868, and 1869, 
other reservoirs were constructed. In 
1 86 1, a force pump was placed in a 
building near the state-dam to pump 
water from the river into the mains. 
The machinery was afterward suc- 
cessively moved to buildings on the 
hydraulic canal, south of the former 
station, and water pumped from the 
canal to supply in part the city. 

On March 19, 1879, a plat of ground 



336 



was purchased of J. Lansing Van 
Schoonhoven for $9,000, on the north- 
west corner of State and Washington 
streets, in Lansingburgh. From its 
frontage of 300 feet on State Street it 
extends westward 450 feet to low-water 
mark on the bank of the Hudson. 
A contract was made with the Holly 
Manufacturing Company of Lockport, 
N. Y., on May 7, 1879, for "two sets 
of pumping engines and boilers with 
the necessary buildings, including 
smoke-stack, the inlet chamber in the 
Hudson River, the tunnel leading 
therefrom to the pump-well, a high 
service reservoir and a 30-inch rising 
or force main extending from the 
pumping station to Lower Oakwood 
Reservoir, (a distance of about 3^ 
miles);" the consideration being $235,- 
000. 

In June, that year, the enlargement 
of the water works began, and in 
February, 1880. water was pumped 
into the lower Oakwood reservoir for 
the first time from the new station. 
In the attractive one-story building, 
faced with Croton pressed brick, are 
two Holly quadruplev engines, each 
capable of pumping six million gal- 
lons of water daily. Near it is a 
two-story bfick building in which the 
engineers reside. The thirty-inch 
main, through which water is forced 
into lower Oakwood reservoir, is 
16,753 fcst long, and extends from the 
pumping station southward through 
Lansingburgh to Glen Avenue, where 
it deflects eastwardly and enters the 
lower Oakwood reservoir on the east 
side of Oakwood Avenue. 

The system of reservoirs of the 
Troy Water Works begins with Bruns- 
wick Lake, in the town of Brunswick, 
about three miles east of Oakwood 
Avrnue. Immediately west of it is 
Vanderheyden Lake. About two miles 
west of that lake, on the Link road, 
is the high service reservoir, 384 feet 
above tide-water. About a half a 



mile west of it is the upper Oakwood 
reservoir, and west of it, the lower 
Oakwood reservoir, on the east side 
of Oakwood Avenue. On the west 
side of the avenue is the low service 
reservoir. 

The system of distribution of water 
to different parts of the city embraces 
three divisions : 

The low service comprises that part 
of the city between the river and a 
plane of 202 feet above the height 
of tide-water. One main extends 
westerly from the low service reservoir 
along Glen Avenue to River Street. 
Another from the same reservoir ex- 
tends westerly along and across the 
Piscawen Kill to the pipes which for- 
merly supplied water from the old 
distributing reservoir. One of the 
pipes distributes water along Eighth 
Street to Federal Street, and runs 
thence to River, Fourth, Ida, Third 
streets, across the Poesten Kill, thence 
to Madison, Fourih, to and across the 
Wynants Kill to Water Street. The 
other pipe extends southwesterly to 
the intersection of Canal Street and 
Vail Avenue, and thence runs to River 
Street, and thence along River Street 
southwardly to the central part of 
the city. 

The middle service includes that 
part of the city between a plane of 
202 feet above tide-water and a plane 
of 290 feet above the same. The 
main supplying this division extends 
across the land of William 11. Frear 
to Oakwood Avenue, thence along it 
to Tenth Street, People's Avenue, 
Ninth, Federal, Eighth and Congress 
streets to the stone bridge across the 
Poesten Kill, on Pawling Avenue. 

The high service embraces that part 
of the city between a plane of 290 
feet and a plane of 384 feet above 
tide-water. The main supplying this 
division extends from the high service 
reservoir across the fields to Burdett 
Avenue, thence to Tibbits, Bruns- 



337 



wick. Pawling, Maple avenues to 
Campbell's Hiehway, and thence along 
it to the Iron Works. 

The present extent and capacity of 
the water works and those of 1855 are 
contrasted in the annual report of the 
water commissioners for the fiscal year 
18S4 ; "At that time the city had a 
population of about 33,000. Its 
water works, such as they were, had 
then been in existence over twenty 
years, and had cost, up to that year 
inclusive, about $175,000. The ex- 
tent of pipe laid was 12 miles ; num- 
ber of fire plugs, 85; stop gates, 91. 
The assessed water-rents were $15,- 
324.60. There was but one storage 
reservoir, Brunswick Lake, and one 
distributing reservoir in addition to 
the fire dam, with an aggregate ca- 
pacity of three hundred and fifty-two 
million gallons ; and there was but 
one 1 2-inch supply pipe for the whole 
city, while the total daily supply of 
probably less than one million gallons 
was fully ample to meet the demands 
of that day. * * * 

" During the short interval of only 
thirty years that has elapsed since 
that lime the population of the city 
has increased to 60,000. The board 
has had to supervise the additional 
expenditure, in construction alone, of 
the large sum of $933,618.70. The 
extent of pipe laid has increased from 
12 to 48 miles; the fire plugs from 85 
to 516, aside from private plugs ; and 
the stop-gates from 91 to 740. The 
assessed water rents have increased 
from $15,000 to $65,000 ; the storage, 
or reservoir capacity, from three hun- 
dred and fifty-two millions to six hun- 
dred and thirty-three millions ; the 
daily consumption from one to nine 
millions ; and finally a large and ex- 
pensive system of pumping by steam 
power ftom the Hudson River has 
been superadded to the original grav- 
ity supply in order to meet the grow- 
ing demands of our large population." 



The total cost of the water works 
from 1S33 to March i, 1S86, was 
$1,149,083.81. The present debt, 
since the enlargement and extension 
of the water works in 1879, 's $421,- 
000. 

The water commissioners are 
Richard F. Hall, president, Joseph 
Fales, Lyman R. Avery, David M. 
Ranken, and Dennis J. Whalen. 

On February i, 1 885, Palmer H. Baer- 
mann succeeded David M. Gteene as 
chief engineer of the water works de- 
partment. Edward H. Chapin has 
been superintendent since 1854. John 
G. Ogden has filled the position of 
clerk of the department since 1875. 
The offices of the department are in 
the city building. No. 47 State Street, 
east of Fifth Street. 

West Troy. — The site of the vil- 
lage of West Troy was originally a 
part of the tract of land purchased of 
the Indians for Kiliaen Van Rensse- 
laer, July 27, 1630. On the map of 
Rensselaerswyck, made about the year 
1631, this northwest section of the 
great manor is denominated Weelijs 
Duel (Weely's Part), so named it 
would seem in honor of the patroon's 
second wife, Anna Van Weely. 
Later, the lowland south of the first 
branch of the Mohawk River was 
called by the Dutch de J^lachte, (the 
Plain or Flat). Arent Van Curler, 
a cousin of the patroon, was the first 
person to cultivate a farm on it, 
where he lived from 1642 to 1660. 
Richard Van Rensselaer, a son of the 
patroon, afterward possessed the bou- 
wery for a number of years. On June 
22, 1672, Jeremias Van Rensselaer 
sold the farm and the island opposite 
it to Philip Schuyler, for 5000 Hol- 
land guilders, $2,000. The farm ex- 
tended along the Hudson from the 
Krom Kill, (Crooked Creek), south of 
the Schuyler homestead, at Port Schuy- 
ler, northward to Steene-hoeck kill. 



44 



338 



(Stone-point Creek) now Dry River. 
North of the farm was another belong- 
ing to Bastiaen De Winter. It lay 
between the Steene-hoeck kill and the 
rocky eminence projecting into the 
the Hudson called by the Dutch 
Steene Hoeck (Stone Point). " The 
Rock House," on the southeast cor- 
ner of Buffalo Street and Broadway, 
is built on a part of the "great 
blacke rocke," Steene Hoeck. 

The Schuyler mansion, south of 
Port Schuyler, was built about the 
year 1768, on the site of the burned 
one, erected in the previous cen- 
tury. 

In 1793, a part of the farm of John 
Schuyler, jr., was surveyed and laid 
out for a village by John Campbell. 
The place was called Washington. 
It comprised thatpart of Port Schuyler 
between Spring and North streets. 
Spring Street was then called South 
Street. 

On January i, 1805, James Gib- 
bons purchased from John S. Schuyler 
a tract of land immediately north of 
the village of Washington. Shortly 
afterward a part of that land was laid 
out for a village and called Gibbons- 
ville. In i8i3,the two places were thus 
described in Spafford's Gazetteer of 
the State of New York : "Washington 
5 miles N. of Albany and Gibbons 
Ville, opposite Troy, 6 miles." Gib- 
bonsville then contained about fifteen 
houses. The bell and brass foundry, 
which Julius Hanks of Mansfield, 
Conn.,_'had erected in 1808, on the 
west side of Water Street, (Broad- 
way), between Ferry and Buffalo 
streets, was thus mentioned in the 
same work : " Here is also a bell 
foundry with a considerable variety of 
works in brass, plating, &c. Several 
small cannon have been lately made 
here,'on a contract with the state of 
Connecticut. Surveyors' compasses of 
superior construction and workman- 
ship are made here, and I have seen 



some samples of plaited wares done 
in a very superior style." 

On July 14, 1813, the United States 
purchased of James Gibbons about 
twelve acres of land in Gibbonsville 
for $2,585, on which in the following 
year the erection of the buildings of 
the Watervliet Arsenal was begun. 
On March 19, 1814, the Reformed 
Protestant Dutch Church of Washing- 
ton and Gibbonsville was organized in 
the school-house in the former village. 
In the spring of the following year, 
the erection of the meeting-house was 
begun on the west side of Water 
(Broadway) Street, between North 
Street and the arsenal grounds. The 
church was dedicated on Wednesday, 
July 17, 1816. On August 19, 1817, 
the Watervliet post-office was estab- 
lished in Gibbonsville. Abijah Whee- 
ler, the post-master, kept the office in 
his store on the southwest corner of 
Water (Broadway) and Ferry streets. 
On April 23, 1823. the legislature 
passed the " act to vest certain pow- 
ers and privileges in the freeholders 
and inhabitants of Gibbonsville," by 
which the village was to be incorpor- 
ated. As no election for village offi- 
cers was held as provided by the act, 
a second act was passed April 4, 1825. 
Under the last, Julius Hanks, Elijah 
Rainey. Isaac Chapman, Edward 
Learned, and Isaac Frink were elected 
trustees, and Gerrit T. Lansing, treas- 
urer, and Nathan Robbins, collector. 
Julius Hanks was chosen president of 
the board of trustees. In Spafford's 
Gazetteer of 1824, Gibbonsville is 
described : " It is incorporated as a 
village, has 52 houses, shops, and 
stores. Hanks' bell and cannon 
foundry and manufactory of town 
clocks and surveyors' instruments, a 
manufactory of paper moulds, the 
United States arsenal and depot, at 
Watervliet, and 2 basins on the canal. 
It is a busy little place, and having 
the canal, good docking ground on 



339 



the Hudson, the side cut and locks to 
Troy, with important advantages for 
a large basin on the margin of the 
river, bids fair to grow pretty rapidly. 

* * * Gibbonsville is connected 
with Troy by 2 horse-ferries, on 
Langdon's improved construction. 

* * * Washington village, a 
half mile below Gibbonsville, has 
about 40 houses, the Albany road and 
canal." 

In the same work the following 
mention was made of the United 
Slates arsenal: " It is designed to be 
the principal depot for military stores, 
arms, and equipments in the northern 
states, and is now [1824] one of the 
largest in the United States. The 
buildings present a long front on the 
river, and consist of a brick arsenal, 
35 by 120 feet, 2i stories in height ; 
2 brick houses for officers' quarters ; i 
brick building, 25 by 98 feet, 3 sto- 
ries, for quarters for mechanics and 
soldiers ; 2 brick buildings, each 22 
by 136 feet, for mechanics' shops ; 2 
do. each i^ story, 45 by 1S3 feet, for 
military carriages and equipments ; a 
brick magazine for powder and am- 
munition, 60 by 19 feet, surrounded 
by a brick wall, 14 feet high, 264 feet 
perimeter ; a stone magazine, 87 by 
21 feet, surrounded by a wall 300 feet 
perimeter, 14 feet high ; a wooden 
building, 40 by 22 feet, 2 stories, for 
a laboratory, and a stable and a forage 
house. It has also a dock in front, 
on the Hudson. * * * The pub- 
lic property is probably little short of 
a million of dollars in value. * * * 
The Erie Canal runs through the 
depot, between the front and rear 
buildings, over which is a bridge. 
This establishment was located in 
1S13, and commenced in 1814, under 
the direction of Col. [George] Bom- 
ford of the ordnance department, but 
it has been for some years under the 
direction of Major [James] Dalliba, 
an officer of the same department." 



The construction of the Erie Canal, 
which runs through the village, was 
begun July 4, 1817, and completed 
October 26, 1825. The openmg of 
the canal between Gibbonsville and 
Rochester was celebrated on Wednes- 
day, October 8, 1823. On that day, 
the Trojan Trader, flying a Hag in- 
scribed : " From Troy ; the first west- 
ern boat loaded at Hudson's River," 
left the village for Rochester. The 
side cut, south of the first branch of 
the Mohawk River, was completed 
Saturday, November 15, 1823. That 
afternoon, the packet boat, Superior, 
with a number of citizens of Troy on 
board, passed through the lock into 
the Hudson and crossed the river to 
Troy. 

In 1823, George Tibbits, Richard 
P. Hart, Esaias Warren, Philip 
Scliuyler, Ebenezer Wis.vall, Nathan 
Warren, Samuel Gale, John P. Cush- 
man, William Hart, Jacob Merritt, 
Elias Pattison, George Vail, Stephen 
Warren, Philip Hart, jr., John Paine, 
John D. Dickinson, and Theodore F. 
French, having organized themselves 
into a corporation called the " West 
Troy Company," purchased, No- 
vember 12, that year, from John 
Bleecker and Elizabeth, his wife, 400 
acres of land, " north of the division 
line between James Gibbons and John 
Bleecker," or north of Buifalo Street. 
The Troy and Schenectady turn- 
pike, " the street leading from Albany 
to the Cohoes bridge," and the Erie 
Canal crossed the tract of land. 
" Steinhook Creek," as Dry River was 
then called, flowed through it to the 
Hudson. The eastern part of the 
land was laid out into building lots 
and the western part into farm lots. 
The purchasers paid $45,000 for the 
land, and called the projected village 
West Troy. 

In 1827, Willard Earl, Jal)ez Bur- 
rows, Abijah Wheeler, David Wheeler, 
Enoch Burrows, Ciilbert C. Bedell, 



340 



and Jonathan Hart, taking the name 
of the Port Schuyler Company, pur- 
chased of John and Peter S. Schuyler 
the land which was surveyed by Evert 
Van Alen and Sergeant John Camp- 
bell of the United States ordnance de- 
partment, and laid out into building 
lots, as delineated on the map made 
October 23, 1827. This place, which 
included the village of Washington, 
was called Port Schuyler. 

Gibbonsville, in which the erection 
of buildings was begun in 1800, in 
1830 had 60 dwelling houses, 87 fam- 
ilies, 559 inhabitants, 3 public houses, 
9 stores, and the United States ar- 
senal. 

West Troy, in which the erection of 
buildings was begun in 1824, in 1830 
had 113 dwellings, 93 families. 510 
inhabitants, i church, 4 public houses, 
and 23 stores. 

Port Schuyler in 1830, had 52 dwel- 
lings, 75 families, 450 inhabitants, i 
church, I public house, and 12 stores. 

By the act for the incorporation of 
" the village of West Troy," includ- 
ing in it Gibbonsville and Port 
Schuyler, passed April 30, 1S36, two 
trustees in each of the four wards, a 
president, and other village officers, 
were elected on May 3, that year. 

The Watervliet Bank, incorporated. 
May 21, 1836, with a capital slock of 
$250,000, doing business in the brick 
building on the northwest corner of 
Broadway and Buffalo Street, failed 
in April, 1842. 

The name of the post-office was 
changed from Watervliet to that of 
West Troy, July i, 1847 

When the construction of the Al- 
bany Northern Railroad was begun 
in 1851, the first line surveyed for it 
extended through the village, entering 
it on the south near the Schuyler 
homestead and running thence north- 
ward along the east side of Broadway 
to (keen Island, crossing the hrst 
branch of the Mohawk River at the 



side-cut at the foot of Union Street. 
The construction of the road on this 
line having been opposed, the line was 
changed to the west side of the village. 
A Y was constructed by which trains 
going northward and si-uthward could 
enter the village on the line of Canal 
Street, now Central Avenue. The 
station was a small frame building 
on the northeast corner of the alley, 
between Ohio Street and the Erie 
Canal. A freight-house was built on 
the north side of Canal Street, on the 
west side of Dry River. The build- 
ing of the street railway from Albany 
to West Troy in 1862, so diminished the 
number of passengers travelling be- 
tween the two places on the Albany 
Northern Railroad that after De- 
cember 21, 1863, the use of the Y 
was discontinued. A station was then 
erected at the head of Genesee Street. 

The Bank of West Troy, which 
began business, on May i, 1852, in 
its banking house on the southwest 
corner of Washington and Canal 
streets, with a capital of $200,000, 
became the National Bank of West 
Troy, in 1865, with a capital stock of 
$250,000. Its present capital is 
$100,000. 

The corner-stone of Corporation 
Hall was laid August 24, 1864. 

The United States Arsenal grounds 
now embrace about 100 acres of land, 
inclosed by a high stone wall, except- 
ing on Broadway, along which is a 
fence of iron pickets. About 1,500 
men were employed at the arsenal 
during the civil war, manufacturing 
ordnance supplies. Since the pur- 
chase of the grounds about a million 
and a half dollars have been ex- 
pended in the erection of the different 
buildings on them. The property 
has a frontage of 1600 feet on the 
Hudson. 

There are 10 churches in the vil- 
lage. The North Reformed Church, 
northwest corner of Washington and 



341 



Buffalo streets ; the Jermain Memo- 
rial Presbyterian Cliurcli, formerly the 
South Reformed Protestant Dutch 
Church, northwest corner of Middle 
and Croton streets ; Trinity Episco- 
pal Church, east side of Washington 
Street, between Ferry and Schenectady 
streets ; First Baptist Church, north- 
east corner of Ohio Street and Cen- 
tral Avenue ; P'irst Presbyterian 
Church, north side r.f Union Street, 
between Catherine and Ford streets ; 
Ohio Street Methodist Episcopal 
Church, southwest corner of Ohio and 
Ontario streets ; Washington Street 
Methodist Episcopal Church, north- 
west corner of Washington and Ferry 
streets ; St. Patrick's Roman Catholic 
Church, southwest corner of Union 
and Burlington streets ; St. Bridget's 
Roman Catholic Church, northwest 
corner of Salem and Mansion streets; 
Holy Heart of Mary, Roman Catholic, 
French, Church, on northwest corner 
of Gibbons and Buffalo streets. 

The first newspaper printed in the 
village was the Palladimn, and was 
published by the W^arren Brothers 
in 1832. Its publication was soon 
discontinued. On October 4, 1S37, 
William Hollands began the publica- 
tion of the West Troy Advocate and 

Watervliet Advertiser, a weekly, and 
continued it until his death in 1853. 
The paper was afterward published 
by his son, William Hollands, jr. Its 
publication was discontinued in 1864. 
The publication of the Watervliet 
Daily Democrat was begun January 

18, 1859. I^ w^^ shortly afterward 
succeeded by the Albany County Dem- 
ocrat, which was published until July, 

1884. The Watervliet Journal was 
published by James Treanor and T. I. 
Hardin, from May, 1S80, to July, 

1885. They then purchased the Dem- 
ocrat and consolidated the two papers 
under the name of the Journal and 
Democrat, which is still published by 
them. 



Population of West Troy in 1840, 
4,572; 1850, 6,900; 1S60, 8,952; 
1870, 10,693 ; 1880, 8,82c. The cen- 
sus of the village in 1880 was care- 
lessly taken, and it is likely there 
were about 11,000 inhabitants at that 
time. 

The principal manufactories are the 
following : 

James Roy & Co., manufacturers of 
shawls, woolen and worsted goods, east 
side of Broadway, foot of Spring 
Street. Early in the present century 
satinet was made in a large frame 
building, erected on the bank of the 
Hudson, at the foot of Spring Street, 
in the village of Washington. South 
of the factory, and nearly opposite 
Mill Street was a flouring mill. On 
the map of Port Schuyler, made Oc- 
tober 23, 1827, the ground plans of 
the two buildings are delineated. On 
February 14, 1S43, James Roy, who 
with John Knower, had begun the 
manufacture of woolen shawls in the 
satinet factory, previously occupied by 
A. S. Blackman, purchased a half-part 
of the property and a number of 
adjacent lots. Having obtained a 
number of skilled operatives from 
Scotland, where James Roy was born, 
the enterprising manufacturers were 
then making a grade of shawls noway 
inferior in quality and texture to those 
imported. In 1847, the first of the 
present large brick buildings of the 
establishment was erected by James 
Roy & Co. On January i, 1866, 
John F. Roy became a member of the 
tirm. On December 29, 1869, "James 
Roy & Company " was incoporated 
with a capital of $400,000 ; since in- 
creased to $500,000 ; James Roy, 
John Knower, John F. Roy, and 
Benjamin Knower constituting the 
corporation. Besides the different 
buildings, fronting 800 feet on Broad- 
way, the company has a large brick 
factory on the northeast corner of 



B4S 



Broadway and Mansion Street, and 
another in Schenectady. 

Roy & Co., (John Knovver and A. 
H. Sweny), manufacturers of butts 
and hinges, Broadway, near Spring 
Street. Andrew Rogers and James 
Roy, under the name of Rogers & 
Roy, engaged in the business in the 
basement of the old satinet factory. 
The firm of Roy & Co., (John Knower, 
James Roy, & Peter Roy), was incor- 
porated, December 28, 1870. 

J. M. Jones' Sons, car manufac- 
turers. Circle Street, north of Berlin 
Street. John M. Jones, the father of 
the members of the firm, with Henry 
W. Witbeck, under the name of Wit- 
beck & Jones, in 1839, began the 
manufacture of carriages and wagons, 
in a frame building, afterward burned, 
on the site of the present works. 
During the first years of gold mining 
in California, the firm made and 
shipped a great number of lumber 
and express wagons around Cape 
Horn to San Francisco. On Henry 
W. Witbeck's withdrawal in 1863, 
George H. Lawrence became associ- 
ciated for a short time with J. M. 
Jones in the business. In 1S64, the 
firm of Jones & Co. was formed by J. 
M. and Richard W. Jones. In 1S74, 
it was succeeded by that of J. M. 
Jones & Co.; the two sons John H. 
and Walter A. Jones engaging in the 
business with their father. In 1879, 
the business was discontinued in West 
Troy. In the spring of 18S2, John 
H. and Walter A. Jones resumed in 
West Troy the manufacture of street- 
cars begun by Jones & Lawrence 
in 1864. Thousands of street-cars 
have been made at these works for 
different railway companies in the 
United Slates, South America, Aus- 
tralia, England, Germany, India, and 
other distant countries. In 1870, two 
hundred were made for the Bombay 
Tramway Company. During the civil 



war many gun carriages were made 
for the United States government. 
About 300 street-cars are now annu- 
ally made by the firm, which employs 
about 2CO skilled workmen. 

Covert Manufacturing Com- 
pany, makers of harness snaps, chain 
and rope goods, southwest corner of 
Central Avenue and West Street. 
Many of the ingeniously constructed 
specialties made at the works are 
figuratively designated, " Covert's 
horse and mule jewelry." Although 
partly decorative, their usefulness is at 
once apparent in the different adapta- 
tions for the purposes for which they 
are admirably designed. The loop, 
round eye, open eye, and swivel snaps 
attachable to harness, lariats, and 
ropes, the web and rope halters, ties, 
and cords commend their convenience 
and durability to persons acquainted 
with the management and care of 
horses, mules, and cattle. The com- 
pany also manufactures a large class of 
chains and cables used by farmers, 
lumbermen, dredgers, car manufactur- 
ers, and water-craft builders, and sub- 
jects them to the highest standard 
tests of strength of Europe and 
America. The patent adjustable sol- 
dering irons and adjustable coppers 
made at the works for tinsmiths and 
plumbers are everywhere recognized 
for their excellence. The business 
was begun in 1873, at No. 210 First 
Street, Troy, by James C. and Madison 
Covert, Henry and S. Bradley Wake- 
man, under the name of the Breast 
Hold-back Company. The Covert 
Manufacturing Company was formed 
August 9, 1877. James C. and Madi- 
son Covert succeeded to the business, 
under the same name, in 1882. In 
February, 1879, the present works on 
the southwest corner of Central Ave- 
nue and West Street were erected by 
the company, which sells its goods not 
only to the trade in this country but 
to numerous importers in England, 



343 



Austria, Germany, India, Africa, and 
other distant lands. The wide adver- 
tisement of the company's specialties 
have greatly enlarged its business dur- 
ing the last five years. 

George R. Meneely & Co., man- 
ufacturers of Hopkins' patent self- 
fitting journal bearings for railroad 
cars and locomotives, bronze and 
brass castings, and anti-friction met- 
als. South Albany Street, south of the 
U. S. arsenal grounds. George R. Me- 
neely and S. W. Getman, having 
formed the firm in 1874, began 
in March, that year, manufacturing 
at their present establishment. The 
popular use of the Hopkin.s' journal 
bearings by the different railroads 
in the United States have made it 
more convenient to the manufacturers 
to have two establishments, one at 
West Troy and the other at Atlanta, 
Ga., from which they supply orders 
from those parts of the country nearest 
to them. 

Meneely Hardware Company, 
(George R. and Charles D. Meneely, 
and John Gibbons), manufacturers of 
hardware specialties, South Albany 
Street, south of the United States 
arsenal grounds. The company was 
formed on January i, 1S83. The 
works have a frontage of about 270 
feet on South Albany Street, and a 
depth of 125 feet, 

Meneely & Co., (E. A., A. H., and 
George K. Meneely), bell founders. 
No. 205 Broadway. The business 
was begun by Julius Hanks, in 1808, 
who was succeeded in 1826, by An- 
drew Meneely ; in 1850, by Andrew 
Meneely & Son ; in 1S51, by Andrew 
Meneely's Sons ; in 1863, by E. A. & 
G. R. Meneely ; and in 1S74, by Me- 
neely & Co. 

Two foundries and the lumber busi- 
ness are also comprised in the indus- 
trial interests of the village. 



The West Troy Water Works 
Company, incorporated, 1876, began 
supplying the village with water in 
1877. The water is pumped from the 
Mohawk River near Niskayuna. The 
storage reservoir is about a mile west 
of the village. 

Wire Cloth Manufactory.— 

J. B. S. Maltky, manufacturer of 
wire cloth, sieves, riddles, screens, 
window guards, and painted window 
screen cloth. No. 357 and 359 River 
Street. As a member of the firm of 
Nutting & Co., he engaged in the 
business in 1864. 

Wire Manufacturers.— 

J. Wool Griswold, manufacturer 
of iron, steel and galvanized wire, 
works on the Poesten Kill, foot of 
Cypress Street. Established, 1879. 

Griswold Brothers, (John Wool 
Griswold and Frank B. Griswold), 
manufacturers of patent steel wire 
bale ties, works on the Poesten Kill, 
foot of Cypress Street. In 1884, the 
firm succeeded the Brockner-Evans 
Company, incorporated, April 4, 
1883. 

Wood-workers. — 

Edward Carter, manufacturer of 
carpenters' planes, mechanics' tools, 
wood mouldings, and ornamental 
work, Nos. 22 to 40 Spring Avenue ; 
salesroom, No. 203 River Street. The 
manufacture of planes and tools was 
begun in Troy in 1828, by Simeon 
Rowell, at No. 38 Ferry Street. His 
successors were Charles S. Rowell, rear 
No. 52 Congress Street. 1832 ; Jared 
West, 1832 ; Richard Carter, March, 
1833; R. & L. Carter, No. 11 Ferry 
Street, 1835 ; E. & C. Carter, (Edward 
and Charles), No. 11 Ferry Street, 1847; 
Edward Carter, No. 171 River Street, 
1854 ; E. & C. Carter, (Edward and 



344 



Cyrus), No. 249 River Street, 1862 ; 
Edward Carter, No. 249 River Street, 
1865. Besides manufacturing tools, 
moulding, stair rails, Edward Carter 
executes, on orders, circular and scroll 
sawing, planing and turning. His 
sale of tools is extensive, not only in 
the United States, but in the West 
Indies, South America, Australia, and 
the Sandwich Islands. 

A. V. G. Smith, sawing, planing, 
and turning mills, Front Street, near 
Federal, began business in 1876 as 
successor to Curley & Lansing, at the 
same place. 

Wool Dealers.— 

Stephen W. Barker, wool dealer, 
Nos. 171 and 173 River Street. In 
1832, John Kerr engaged in the busi- 
ness at No. 127 River Street. His 
successors were John Kerr & Co., 173 
River Street, 1835 ; Knowlson & Mor- 
gan, 1865 ; James S. Knowlson <& 
Co., 153 River Street, 1870; Knowl- 
son & Organ, 1874 ; Stephen Barker 
& Son, 1875; Stephen Barker, 171 
and i73RiverStreei, 1876; Stephen W. 
Barker, September 13, 1883. 

John Consalus, wool dealer, No^-. 
417 and 419 River Street. In 1843, 
Hiram Herrington engaged in the busi- 
ness at 273 River Street, and was 
succeeded by Herrington & Warren, 
No. 283 River Street, 1852 ; Hiram 
Herrington. No. 283 River Street, 



1862; Herrington & McClure, No. 283 
River Street 1S64. In 1865, the firm 
of J. & D. A. Consalus was formed, 
which engaged in vhe business at No. 
375 River Street, whence, in 1866, 
the firm moved to No. 283 ; succeed- 
ing there Herrington & McClure. In 
1871, John Consalus succeeded to the 
business, who then removed to Nos. 
417 and 419 River Street. 

Young Women's Associa- 
tion, The, of the city of Troy, or- 
ganized in January, 18S3, occupies 
rooms in the Manufacturers' National 
Bank Building, on the corner of River 
and King streets. Its object is to 
ameliorate the condition and promote 
the interests of young women by pro- 
viding them with a proper and an at- 
tractive place where they may pass 
leisure hour^■, and improve themselves 
by attending evening courses of iri- 
struction and by reading books of a 
well-selected library. The institution 
was incorporated June lO, 1885. 
Spelling, penmanship, arithmetic, 
book-keeping, mu^ic, type-writin;;, 
mdlinery, and fine sewing are taught 
those desiring free instruction. A 
matron is in charge of the rooms, 
which are open every afternoon and 
evening, excepting on Sunday. The 
present officers are Mrs. Charles E. 
Patterson, president ; Mrs. J K. 
Howe, secretary ; and Mrs. C. A. 
McLeod, treasurer. 



345 



OMISSIONS IN FIRST CLASSIFICATION. 



Apothecaries.— 

Andrew Sawyer, apothecary, No. 
348 River Street, engaged in the busi- 
ness at the same place in 1866. 

R. H. Staruuck, apothecary and 
druggist, northwest corner of Broad- 
way and Fifth Street, engaged in the 
business in 1869, at No. 18 Third 
Street. 

MONCRIEF & Francis, (Robert 
Moncrief and William M. Francis), 
No. 77 Congress Street, formed the 
firm May i, 1886. 

Art Booms. — 

Joseph Hicks, dealer in paintings, 
engravings, and art goods. No. 44 
Third Street. His father, William 
Hicks, began the business in 1851, at 
No. 199 River Street. 

Asylum, St. Vincent's Female 
Orphan. 

The new asylum, a large, four-story, 
brick building, on the east side of 
Eighth Street, between Federal and 
Jacob streets, was erected during the 
summer of 1886. 

Boiler Manufacturer. — 

M. Maiiony, manufacturer of boil- 
ers for steam and hot water heating, 
office and foundry, northwest corner 
of Liberty and Fifth Streets ; ware- 
rooms, No. 143 River Street, Troy, 
and 85 Center Street, New York. 

45 



Box Manufacturers.— 

John Leggett & Son (Joseph A.,) 
manufacturers of paper-boxes of all 
kinds, Nos. 34 and 36 North Fourth 
Street, The senior member of the 
firm engaged in the business in 1869, 
with Sidney Bush, under the firm- 
name of Bush & Leggett, Nos. 380 
and 382 River Street. 

C. E. Vandercook, manufacturer 
of packing and cigar boxes, Nos. 6 & 
8 Front (Mechanic) Street, engaged in 
the business in 1875. 

Brick Works, Troy Fire. — 

James Ostrander & Son, manufac- 
turers of fire brick, blocks and tile, 
and dealers in fire clays and sand, 
Nos. 209 and 211 Second Street. The 
different buildings of the extensive 
works are on twenty-seven lots front- 
ing on First and Second streets, be- 
tween Canal Avenue and Madison 
Street. The appliances for making 
fire brick are complete in every de- 
partment of the establishment. 
Moulded in a multiplicity of shapes, 
the brick, blocks, and tile vary from 
3 to 1000 pounds in weight. The va- 
rious uses made of them in furnaces, 
forges, foundries, and factories where 
they are subject to high degrees of 
heat, to alternations of expansion and 
contraction, and to the effects of gen- 
erated gases, demand of the manu- 
facturer a wide range of knowledge to 
perfect the brick for the purposes for 
which they are designed. The wide 



346 



reputation of the works for producing 
an unexcelled quality of heavy blocks 
for blast furnaces, rolling mills, and 
steel works, has given no little promi- 
nence to the establishment for many 
years. Mining his own clay and sand 
at Woodbridge, N. J., and his kaolin 
at Rossville, Staten Island, the pro- 
prietor possesses all the facilities to 
fill large orders with dispatch and on 
satisfactory terms. The works were 
established in 1850 by Daniel Hud- 
son, who was succeeded in 1853 by 
James Ostrander ; in 1S56, by Ostran- 
der & Heartt, (Jonas S.); in 1S66, by 
James Ostrander ; and in 1868, by 
James Ostrander & Son. On the 
death of his father, December 14, 
1874, Francis A. Ostrander became 
the proprietor of the establishment. 
About lOO workmen are employed at 
the works. The first blocks and 
tuyeres used in the Bessemer steel 
works in this city and other places in 
the country were made at the works. 

Brush Manufacturer.— 

Isaiah DeFreest, horse-brush 
manufacturer. No. 351 River Street, 
began business in 1867 at No. 267 
River Street, with Edward C. Allen, 
under the firm name of Allen & De- 
Freest. Since 1873 he has individu- 
ally conducted the business, making 
all grades of horse-brushes with 
wooden and leather backs, and selling 
them to the trade in all parts of the 
United States. 

Button-hole Makers. 

Dater & Lee, makers of button- 
holes in collars, cuffs, shirt-trimmings 
and other goods. No. 506 Fulton 
Street. John Dater and George H. 
Lee formed the firm, August 16, 1886. 
Established 1S82. About 90 opera- 
tives are employed. 

E. T. Young & Co., shirt, collar, 
and cuff button-hole manufacturers. 



Gurley Building, No. 24 Fifth Street. 
Eyelet end work a specialty. The 
firm was formed. May 12, 1886. 

Clothing. — 

J. S. TOBEY, manufacturer and 
dealer in men's and boys' clothing, 
Nos. 281 and 322 (Troy Clothing 
Company,) River Street, engaged in 
the business in Troy in 1850. 

Furniture.— 

Robert Keith, manufacturer and 
dealer in furniture. No. 179 River 
Street, engaged in the business in 
1880, at No. 189 River Street, whence 
he removed to his present place of 
business in April, 1885. 

Cornelius Fogarty, manufacturer 
and dealer in furniture, carpets, feath- 
ers, and bedding, northwest corner of 
River and State streets, succeeded, 
February, 1S86, Fogarty & York, 
who began the business at the same 
place, January, i, 1884. 

M. Doyle's Sons, manufacturers 
and dealers in furniture, carpets, and 
bedding, Nos. 176 to 180 River Street, 
on May i, 18S6, succeeded their 
father, M. Doyle, who engaged in the 
business in 1870, on the northeast 
corner of River and Ferry streets. 

Glass. — 

Thorne & Rogers, dealers in win- 
dow and plate glass. No. 309 River 
Street, assumed the firm name August 
23, 1886 ; their former partner, R. J. 
Bennett, retiring. 

Hoosick, one of the towns of 
Rensselaer County, was erected Marcli 
7, 1788. Its territory embraces the 
land included in the Hoosick Patent, 
granted July 28, 1688 ; the Walloom- 
sac Patent, dated June 15, 1739, and 
the Schneyder Patent, March 24, 1762. 



847 



Iloosick Falls, the largest village 
in the town, was incorporated April 
14, 1827. The Boston, Iloosac Tun- 
nel & Western, ami the Troy & Bos- 
ton railroads pass through it. The 
village is the seat of the works of the 
Walter A. Wood Mowing and Reap- 
ing Machine Company, formed in 
1865. Population, 4,520. Hoosick, 
North Hoosick, Eagle Bridge, Wal- 
loomsac, Buskirk's Bridge, West 
Hoosick, and Petersburgh Junction 
are small villages in the town. 

Population of the town of Hoosick: 
1790. 3,035 ; iSoo, 3. 141 ; i8ro, 
3,117 ; 1815, 2,907 ; 1820, 3,373 ; 
1825, 3,481 ; 1830, 3,584 ; 1835, 
3,525 ; 1840, 3,539 ; 1845, 3,576 ; 
1850, 3,724 ; 1855, 4,120 ; i860, 
4,446 ; 1S65, 4,783 ; 1870, 5,728 ; 
1875, 6,525 ; 1880, 7,890. 

Institute, Rensselaer Poly- 
technic.— 

In 1841, '42, and '43, the sessions 
of the Rensselaer Institute were held 
in the Farmers' Bank Building, on the 
northwest corner of River and Mid- 
dleburgh streets. Hon. James For- 
syth, LL. D., president of the insti- 
tute, died August 10, 1886. 

Laundry Machinery. — 

A. P. Adams, laundry machinery 
and supplies, Nos. 7 & 9 Sixth Street. 
The use of machinery in laundries is 
no longer a matter of expediency. 
Aggressive competition compels laun- 
drymen everywhere to possess the fa- 
cilities of accomplishing with dispatch 
and perfection the commissions given 
them. Badly washed, unequally 
starched, and imperfectly ironed 
goods are no longer accepted by cir- 
cumspect manufacturers and wearers. 
Whatever faultiness is discoverable in 
carelessly laundered goods, it is likely 
to be due to the want of skill on the 
part of employes rather than to the 



working of machinery. The ingeni- 
ously constructed laundry machinery 
so excellently made at the works of 
A. P. Adams, embracing in part re- 
versing washers, centrifugal ironers, 
steam heated ironing machines, collar 
and cuff and shirt ironers, dampening 
machines, and other patented appli- 
ances, has the high commendation of 
experienced laundrymen in all parts 
of the country. The wide popularity 
of the Adams' laundry machinery is 
indicated by the extensive sale of it in 
the United States, Canada, England, 
India, Australia and other countries. 
In 1873, Alonzo P. Adams engaged in 
Troy with Thos. .S. Wiles in launder- 
ing. In 1877. Wiles, Adams & Co., 
(Henry Kelly,) began the sale of laun- 
dry supplies. In 1879, on the organ- 
ization of the Troy Laundry Machin- 
ery Company, A. P. Adams was 
elected its president. In 1884, he be- 
gan the manufacture of laundry ma- 
chinery and supplies at Nos. 7 & g 
Sixth Street. 

Troy Laundry Machinery Com- 
pany, Limited, manufacturers and 
dealers in laundry machinery and sup- 
plies, Nos. 648 and 650 Fulton Street. 
The continental fame of Troy laun- 
dering is a popular commendation of 
the ingeniously constructed machinery 
used by the laundrymen of the city. 
The marvelous rapidity and the un- 
equalled perfection with which the 
various processes of washing, drying, 
starching, and ironing are accomplish- 
ed amply demonstrate the high merits 
of the apparatus effecting them. The 
Troy Laundry Machinery Company is 
entitled to the honor of making some 
of the best and most extensively used 
machinery in the Troy laundries. Its 
hydraulic washers, wringers, starching 
machines, dampners, mangles, calen- 
ders, shirt, collar, and cuff ironers are 
not only its own patents, but in adapt- 
ation and efficiency unsurpassed. The 
recently patented shirt-ironer now 



348 



made by the company will doubtless 
attain a wide popularity not only in 
the city laundries but in others in the 
United States. The adequacy of 
these different machines may be com- 
prehended by the information that one 
will wash in a day 1,500 dozen collars 
and cuffs, another in ten minutes will 
free from water 150 dozen, another 
starch in a day 200 dozen collars and 
cuffs or 600 shirts, another dampen in 
a day 2,400 dozen collars or cuffs, 
and another iron in ten liours 1,200 
dozen of the same goods. The com- 
pany was incorporated January i, 
1881, and in February, 1882, occupied 
the present establishment on the north 
side of Fulton Street, between Sixth 
and Seventh streets. The officers of 
the company are Delavan Peck, presi- 
dent ; Thomas S. Wiles, vice-presi- 
dent ; Allen Conkling, treasurer; and 
Jacob H. Ten Eyck, secretary. The 
company's branch establishments are 
at Nos. 8 and 10 New Church Street, 
New York, and on Canal Street, 
Chicago, and at ii Silver- Wood Street, 
London, England, and Hausvoigtei- 
Platz 9, Berlin, Prussia. 

Machinery.— 

Knowlson & Kelly, machinists 
and engineers, manufacturers of im- 
proved Corliss engines, narrow gauge 
track locomotives, steam and boiler 
pumps, southeast corner of Division 
and River streets. John Knowlson 
and James Kelly formed the firm in 
the fall of 1869, and began the busi- 
ness in the building formerly on the 
southeast corner of Liberty and River 
streets. Having purchased the site of 
the old Matthias Van der Heyden 
house, built in 1752, they, in June, 
1886, began the erection of their pres- 
ent works, fronting 95 feet on River 
street, with a depth of 71 feet. Some 
of the narrow gauge track locomotives 
made by the firm have been sent to 



such distant places as Cuba and South 
America. The firm also constructs 
engines for propellers. General re- 
pairing is done at the works. The 
members of the firm are frequently 
employed as consulting eagineers. 

Neemfs Brothers, manufacturers 
of castings for steam engines, machin- 
ery, railroads, buildings, at Troy Ma- 
chinery Foundry, Nos. 206 to 212 
First Street, south of Adams. Joseph 
H. and Spencer Neemes formed the 
firm May 11. 1883, and succeeded 
their father, C. S. Neemes, who be- 
gan the business in 1874, at Nos. 36 
& 38 River Street, whence the firm 
removed to the present works, in Oc- 
tober, 1886. The firm gives special 
attention to loam casting and balance 
wheels and patterns of pulleys, and 
general foundry work. 

Henry Moyles, manufacturer of 
portable grain mills, elevators, hoist- 
ing and other machinery, Enterprise 
Iron Works, 210 & 212 First Street, 
successor in 18S4 to Chrystal & 
Moyles, 1884 ; Chrystal, Walsh & 
Moyles, 1880; and F. W. Parmenter, 
1852. 

Manufacturers and Engi- 
neers' Supplies. — 

Barnum Brothers, dealers in me- 
chanical supplies, and manufacturers 
of leather belting, No. 187 River 
Street. This well-known firm fur- 
nishes to manufacturers and engineers 
the numerous articles needed in estab- 
lishments where machinery is used. 
Besides selling rubber goods for me- 
chanical purposes, the members of 
the firm are agents for the Boston 
Belting Company. The senior mem- 
ber of the firm, Theodore F. Barnum, 
engaged in the business in 1867, on 
Fulton street. In March, 1877, he 
and his brother, Frederick W. Bar- 
num, formed the firm and occupied 
a part of the Savings Bank Building 



349 



on the northeast corner of Second and 
State streets, whence they removed in 
iSyg, to their present place of business. 

Mount Ida Manufacturing 
Company. — 

Mount Ida Mani facturing 
Company, manufacturing cotton warp, 
Congress Street, Ida Hill, was incor- 
porated in 1884,. with a capital of 
$75,000. Henry B. Dauchy, presi- 
dent ; John B. Dauchy, secretary and 
treasurer. 

Nickel Works.— 

HoYT & Wynkoop, nickel platers 
and iron founders. Spring Avenue, 
employ about 90 workmen. James 
B. Hoyt and George W. Wynkoop 
formed the firm in the spring of 1875. 

MooRK & FiTzsiMONS, Olympus 
Nickel Works, southwest corner of 
Vail Avenue and North Street. The 
members of the firm, John P. Moore 
and Bernard Fitzsimons, es'.ablished 
the works January i. 1885. This 
branch of business, so intimately con- 
nected with the manufacture of stoves, 
has of late years attained an import- 
ance peculiar to the rapid develop- 
ment of this industry. The firm's fa- 
cilities for plating stove ornaments, 
knobs, turnkeys, hinge pins, and 
other appendages, are commensurate 
with the large patronage it enjoys in 
Troy. Polishing, grinding and finish- 
ing of every description are done at the 
works as well as all kinds of nickel 
plating. 

Picture Framing.— 

F. W. Salisbury & Co., manufac- 
turers of picture frames and mould- 
ings, No. 13 Congress Street. Estab- 
lished in 1876. 

Plumbers, Gas and Steam Fit- 
ters.— 
William H. Barnes, No. 14 First 



Street, engaged in the business in 
September, 1876, begun by his father, 
William Barnes, in 1854, at No. 217 
River Street. 

William Fkrouson, Nos. 359 & 
361 Fulton Street, engaged in the 
business in 1866, 

Samuel Morris, No. 414 Fulton 
Street, engaged in the business in 
1868, with H. L. St. Ormond. 

Charles Wills, plumber, steam 
and gas fitter, room 4, Harmony Hall 
Building, engaged in the business in 
1871. 

Mulligan & Schermerhorn, 
(Martin Mulligan and Harrison Scher- 
merhorn,) Troy Savings Bank Build- 
ing, began business in March. 1880. 

Michael Kennedy, No. 5 Wot- 
kyns Block, Congress Street, engaged 
in the business in 1883, at No. 115 
Fifth Street, as a member of the firm 
of Egan & Kennedy. 

Quinn & Tilly, William F. Quinn 
and George W. Tilly, No. 96 King 
Street, formed the firm October 1, 

1885. 

E. W. Reid, No. 70 Second Street, 
engaged in the business in May, 1886. 

Real Estate Brokers.— 

J. H. WiNSLOW & Co., real estate, 
loan, and insurance brokers. No. 13 
State Street. The sale and convey- 
ance of real estate in Troy and its vi- 
cinity are now mostly made by agents 
having ofiices in the central part of the 
ciiy and advertising conspicuously in 
the daily newspapers having large 
circulations. This well-known firm, 
formed in 1879, by Joseph H. Wins- 
low and Irving Hayner, has the com- 
mand of an extensive business which 
annually exceeds a million of dollars 
in the sale and rentage of property, 



350 



negotiating loans and collecting rents. 
As agents of the Western Farm Mort- 
gage Company, of Lawrence, Kansas, 
ihe firm has sold a large number of 
the company's desirable securities. 
The firm, liesides widely advertising 
the property it has for sale and rent in 
the Troy newspapers, also publishes 
descriptive real estate registers. 

Restaurant and Confection- 
ery.— 

Charles C. Sinsabaugh, restaura- 
teur and confectioner, No. 20 Third 
Street. George W. Sinsabaugh en- 
gaged in the business as a confection- 
er in 1S46, at No. 21 Congress Street, 
whence he removed in 1848 to No. 
42 First Street, and in 1S56, to No. 
18 Third Street. In 1869, after the 
erection of his building. No. 20 Third 
Street, he occupied it. His son, 
Charles C. Sinsabaugh, sncceeded him 
in the business in 187S. 

Saddlery Hardware.— 

WiNNE & Drake, (John E Winne 
and Charles F. Drake), successors to 
Winne, Burdick & Co., dealers in 
saddlery hardware and carriage mate- 



rials, No. 221 River Street. The bus- 
iness was begun in 1846 by Francis 
Drake. The firm was formed, Janu- 
ary I, 1883. 

Manning, Patterson & Co., (J. 
G. Manning, T. W. P. Patterson, and 
Philander Pollock), dealers in sad- 
dlery hardware. No. 355 River Street, 
formed the firm in 1884. 

Tannery, Troy.— 

H. B. Haight, manufacturer of 
leather, Troy Tannery, Hill Street, 
engaged in the business November 
20, 18S0. The buildings of the estab- 
lishment, extending ,150 feet along 
both sides of the street, occupy in 
part the site of the flour mill of Mah- 
lon Taylor, built about the year 1793. 
In 18S5, 25,000 hides were tanned at 
the establishment, where about 100 
hands are employed. On the opposite 
side of the Poesten Kill, H. B. 
Height's father, S. B. Haight, in 1839, 
built the tannery burned about 1873. 

Telegram, The Troy Daily, 

was conveyed by C. L. MacArthur & 
Son to John Hastings, editor and 
proprietor, October 4, 18S6. 



INDEX OF MANUFACTURES. 



Ale, 39. 
Axes, 71. 
Beer, 39. 

Bells, Church, 33, 343. 
Belting, 2g6. 
Blinds, 156, 263. 
Boats, Paper, 189. 
Boilers, vSteam, 35, 345. 
Boxes, Paper, 229, 345. 

" Wooden, 345. 
Brass Work, 39. 
Brick, Fire, 279, 345. 
Brushes, 189, 346. 
Button-holes, 86, 346. 
Butts, 342. 
Candy, 50. 
Carriages, 189. 
Cars, 50, 53, 155, 342. 
Car Wheels, 53, 
Chains, 56. 
Chairs, 297. 
Cigars, 289. 

Collars and Cuffs, 73, 86, 189. 
Cornice, 300. 
Cotton Cloth, 67. 
Crackers, 189. 
Curry-combs, 88, 90. 
Doors, 156, 263. 
Dies, 334. 

Electrical Instruments, 276. 
Engineers' Instruments, 103. 
Engines, Fire, 322. 
Engines, Steam, 279, 348. 
Files, 300. 
Fishing Lines, 144. 
Flour, 152. 
Forges, Portable, 72. 
Furnaces, Heating, 281, 283. 
Furniture, 149, 346. 



Furs, 167, 182. 

Globes, 36. 

Goods, woolen and worsted, 341. 

Handkerchiefs, 161. 

Hardware, 343. 

Hats, 166, 167. 

Hinges, 342. 

Horse and mule jewelry, 342. 

Horseshoes, 43, 48. 

Hydrants, 323. 

Iron, 43, 48, 70, 71, 305, 314. 

Iron work, 178, 348, 349. 

Journal bearings, 343. 

knit Goods, 67, 70, 184, 189, 334, 335. 

Knitting Machinery, 71, 183. 

Laundry Machinery, 193, 347. 

Leather, 350. 

Machinery, 71, 72, 1S3, 193, 334, 34S. 

Malleable Iron, 156, 302. 

Malt, 194. 

Mantels, 196, 29S. 

Monuments, 212. 

Mowing Machines, 213. 

Oil, Linseed, 156, 227. 

Paint, 228. 

Paper, 229, 231. 335. 

Photographs, 183, 232, 233. 

Picture Frames, 349. 

Pipe, gas, steam and water, 72. 

Planes, Carpenters, 343. 

Plaster, 152. 

Railroad Rails, 305-314. 

Rivets, Boiler, 48. 

Sash and blinds, 263. 

Shawls, 341. 

Sheet-iron ware, 165. 

Shirts, 78, 79, 82, 273, 275. 

Skirts, women's, 161. 

Snaps, Harness, 342. 



353 

Steel, 305-314. Umbrellas, 320. 

Stocks, 334. Valves, 322. 

Stoves, 156, 281, 285. Varnishes, 324. 

Stove Lining, 279, 345. Veneers, 333. 

" Polish, 285. Warp, Cotton, 349. 

Surveyors' Instruments, 103. Wire, 343. 

Tinware, 165. Wire Cloth, 343. 

Tools, 71, 343. Woods, 333. 

Twines, 320. Wood Work, 72, 333, 343, 344. 



INDEX. 



(The names of firms and those of pastors of churches are omitted.) 



Abrams, T. D., 23, 27S. 
Adams, Alonzo P., 192, 347. 

Chas. H., 23, 65, 70, i8q, 191. 
" James, 321. 
" Nathaniel, 43, 317. 
William P., 70. 
Aird, Andrew, 328. 

" Henry, 72. 
Albertson, J. P., 17, 23. 
Alden, Alonzo, 153, 177, 178, 237, 298. 

" Charles L., 184, 318, 319. 
Allen, Amos., 10. 

Edward C, 346. 
" Arthur H.. 247. 
" Frederick P., 18, 88, 176, 319. 
" George, 295. 
" Morgan A., 136. 
Anderson, James, 137. 

jr., Elbert, 322. 
AndreSj Stephen, 204, 207. 
Annesley, W., 64. 
Anthony, Asa, 162, 199. 
C. H., 3. 
" Jesse B., 64, 201. 

" Jesse, 207, 

Archibald, J. C, 75. 
Armitage, John W., 273. 
Armstrong, Sterling, 40. 
Arnberg, C. T., 311. 
Arnold, Anson, 20. 
Arts, John L., 46, 48. 

" M. II., 135. 
Ashley, Abiam, 153. 
" James F., 325. 
" Stephen, 88, 124, 156, 198, 
237, 290. 
Asylums, 9, 345. 

46 



Atwood, Anson, 283. 
Aukam, Frederick G., 161. 
Austin, Charles M., 283. 

" James N., 210. 
Authier, J. M,, 226. 
Averill, Isaac, 329. 
Avery, Lyman R., 22, 319, 337. 
Ayres, John, 244. 
Babcock, George, 201, 312. 

" Wood, 74, 75, 
Backus, E. F., 43, 

" Michael, 124. 
Bacon, Jesse, 198. 

" J. G., 17, 22. 
Baermann, Palmer H., 337. 
Bailey, Joshua, 68. 

Thomas H , 135. 
" William, 132. 135. 
Bainbridge, Robert, 121. 
Baker, William V., 178, 183. 

William T., 331, 
Balch, L. H., 154. 
Baldwin, George C, 26, 28, 30, 267. 

" Samuel N., 69. 
Ball, Eliphalet, 12. 
" George H., 319. 
" John C, 275. 
" L. Chandler, 256. 
Ballou. Edgar, 135. 
Bancker, Flores, 292, 329. 

J. D., 22. 
Barker, Stephen W., 334. 

" W., 86. 
Barnes, William, 349. 

William H.. 349. 
Barnum, Frederick W., 348. 

" Theodore F., 184, 296, 348. 



854 



Barrett, William, 210. 
Barton, E. D,, 22, 

Richard C. 29S. 
William, 285. 
Bastable, David, 287. 
Bates, Harris W., 199 

" John W., 17. 
Baucus, William J., 17, 18. 
Bayner, Henry, 127. 
Beach, Miles, 57, 201, 285. 
Beattie, David, 266. 
Beck, Lewis C, 171. 

" T. Romeyn, 171, 174. 
Becker, Henry H., 4, 5. 
Becket, Littleton, 212. 
Bedell, Gilbert C, 339, 
Beers, S. A., 155. 
Beiderbecke, H., 193. 
Beiermeister, sr., Frederick, 86. 

" jr., Frederick, 85. 

Belcher, Abram, N., 20, 146. 
Belden, Edward E., 99. 
" Emerson, 156. 
Belding, W. A., 57. 
Bell. F. H., 335. 
Bellows. W. H., 22. 
Bemis, Luke, 320. 
Benedict, T. Lee, 159. 
Bennett, Lyman, 17, 20, 59, 74, 75, 267. 

R. J., 151,346. 
Benson, Benjamin D., 36. 
Berg, Jacob, 180. 
Berkowits, Isaac, 181. 
Best, J. A.. 184. 
Betts, Benjamin, 204. 

" C. E., 290. 
Bigelow, Thaddeus B., 10, 20, 246, 

316, 319. 
Bills, Alfonzo, 23, 318. 
Billings, C. W.. 196. 

Edward A., 28. 
" Edwin A., 197. 
Bingham, E. W., 274. 
Bird, John, 106, 107, 198. 
Birdseye, Charles C, 67. 
Birge, Joseph T., 290. 
Bishop, Charles B. 23. 

Jacob, 108, 109, T17. 
Black, Richard T., 289. 
Blackman, A. S., 341. 



Blair, George T., 237. 
Blake, Frederick, 36. 

*' Robert, 332. 
Blanchard, Edwin D., 77, 298. 
John L., 23, 85. 

" Joseph, 186. 

Blatchford. Samuel, 171, 174, 332. 
Bleecker, John, 339. 

" Thomas W., 246. 
Bloomingdale, John, 137. 
Boardman, Derrick L., 178. 
H. F., 23, 178. 

" John, 316. 

Bockes, M. J., 17. 
Bogardus, Bobert, 155. 
Bolton, C, 189. 

" Edward, 62. 
Bomford, George, 339. 
Bonesteel, Albert E., 22. 
Bontecou, D. Frank, 328. 
Bosworth, Foster, 201, 237. 

" Charles H., 4, 5. 

" George S., 135. 
Boughton, Edward M., 167. 
E. H.. 167. 

" Ezra W., 167. 

" Josiah, 117. 

" Stephen, 117. 

William H., 153. 
Bounds, Daniel, 153. 
Bouton, Nathan, 108, 109. 

" Stephen, 108. 
Boutwell, Charles A., 153. 

" Oliver, 212, 302. 
Bowman, Cassius, 85. 

" jr., Joseph, 85, 86. 

" sr., Joseph, 85. 
Bradley, Arthur W., 154. 

" Sarah, 117. 

" William, 14, 15, 109, 270. 
Bradt, William H., 134. 
" Chauncey D., 326. 
Brannan, John A., 133. 

" Thomas B., 135. 
Brennan, George J., 325. 

" William H., 325. 
Breslin, Thomas, 334. 
Brewster, Ammi, 320. 

" Benjamin, 312. 

" Orson, 23. 



365 



Brieger, Ernest W., 287. 
Briggs, Amos, 256. 

" David C, 86. 
Brinkerhoff, John, 30.5. 

" William, 252. 

Brinsmade, T. C, 113, 174. 
Brintnall, Charles E., 145, 146. 
" Joseph, 127. 
" Lemuel, 28. 
Bristol, Flavia M. , 99. 

" George, 99. 
Britton, John T,, 319. 

" S. W., 17. 
Broomfield, George, 133. 
Broughton, Henry, 167. 
Brower, Abraham, 245. 
Brown, Charles A., 23, 184. 
" Charles K., 20. 
" Ebenezer, 74. 
" F. Gilbert, 163. 
" Jacob, 212, 
" James, 242. 
" Jonathan, 14, 
" Nehemiah, 244. 
" William, 145, 146, 
Bruce, Charles E., 82. 
Bruck, Michael, 181. 
Bryan, Richard S., 117. 
Buckingham, Gideon, 242, 244. 
Buckley, Lawrence, 288. 
" P. H., 10. 
" Thomas, 300. 
Buel, David, 114, 127, 231, 236. 
" jr.. David 10, 106, 107, 108, 109. 

114, 174, 270. 
" Elam N., 134. 
" James, 22, 23. 
Buell, Fred F., 166, 298, 320. 

" William C. 168, 228. 
Bull. G. H.. 199. 

" Rice C, 23, 154. 
Bullions, Samuel S., 24. 
Bullis, Frederick, 96. 
Bundy, Thomas P., 320. 
Bunnell, Abel, 28. 
Burchmore, Samuel C, 
Burden, Helen, 247. 

Henry, 43, 44, 46, 245, 247. 
257. 311. 
" I. Townsend, 46, 247. 



Burden, James A., 24, 46, 48, 247. 
" John, 85, 

William, F., 46. 
Burdett, Edward A., 283. 
" George C, 23, 48. 
" Lillian, 116. 
Burdick, Adelbert T., 135, 153. 
Burr, Aaron, 9. 
" Jonathan, 16. 
" Theodore, 329. 
Bun age, E. W.. 320. 
Burritt, Ely, 203. 
Burrows, Enoch, 339. 

" Jabez, 339. 
Burtis. O. F., 283. 
Burton, Benjamin P., 333. 
James, 334. 
" Lebbeus, 24. 
" William, 70, 134, 333. 
Bush, Sidney, 345. 

" jr., Walter R., 53. 
Bushnell, C. S,, 307. 
Bussey, Esek, 283. 

" T.Henry, 283. 
Buswell. John G. 23, 231. 
Butler, John, 153. 
" Lewis, 212. 
Button, Lysander, 332. 

" T. E.. 332. 
Byram, Theodore, A., 182, 287. 
Byron, Patrick, 137. 

" Thomas E., 138. 
Cady, Daniel, 155. 
Caird, James, 117, 122. 
Calder, A. G. H., 24. 
' ' John D. W,. 14. 
" J. Frank, 14, 
" Philip A., 94. 
Caldwell, James B., 287. 
Campbell, George, 334. 

John, 338, 340. 
Candee, Joel G., igg. 
Canfield, David, 204. 
Cannon, Le Grand, 155, 298, 311, 31: 
Card, John M., 165. 
Carlin, Joseph, 209, 210. 
Carnell, John R., 300. 
Carpenter, E., 17. 

" Ira H., 303. 
" James H., 174. 



356 



Carr, David, 22. 

" Joseph B., 7, 56, 153. 
Carroll, John T., 177. 

Thomas B., 201, 271, 267. 
Carter, Charles, 343. 
Cyrus, 28, 343. 
" Edward, 343. 

" L- 343- 
" Richard, 343. 
Gary, Robert T., 136. 
" Sydney T., 94. 
" Zenas, 142. 
Casey, William, 320. 
Cassin, John J., 221. 
Caswell, Herbert M., 134. 
Catlin, George, O., 297. 
Chadwick, Joseph, 69. 
" P. Remsen, 69. 

William N., 6g, 
Champney, L. C, 327. 
Chapin, Edward H., 134, 337. 
Chapman, George W. 334. 
" Isaac, 338. 

" James, 137. 

" Josiah, 303. 

W. A., 151. 
Charette, Joseph, 261. 
Chase, Waldo K., 303. 
Chellock, Bernstein A., 181. 
Cheney, Warren E., 123. 
Chesebro, Israkiah W., 66. 
Chichester, Jeremiah. 16. 
Christie, George, 210. 
" John S., 22. 
" John T., 23, 323. 
" Robert, 22. 
Church, Andrew M., 24, 96, 99. 
" Charles R , 94. 
•* Harvey, 17. 
" H. Robbins, 297. 
H. S., 283. 
Cipperly, John W., 24, 176. 
Clark, A., 167. 
" Asaph, 245. 
" Charles C , 221. 
'• C. H.. 137. 
" J. Willard, 90. 
" Louis Gaylord, 44. 
" Otis G., 12, 18, 24, 30, 69, 131. 
" Zephaniah, 36. 



Clatworthy, John, 298, 300. 
Cleary, William V., 222, 
Clegg, William D., 319. 
Cleminshaw, Charles, 20, 82, 119, 286. 
Clendinnen, William F., 327. 
Cleveland, William, 204. 
Clexton, Samuel R., 21. 
Clinton, DeWitt, 226, 268, 319. 
Close, John T., 16. 
Clowes, Thomas, 237. 
Cluett, Ann B., 119. 

" Edmund, 233. 

" Frederick H., 233. 

" George B., 12, 23, 79, 119, 203. 

" J. W. A., 79, 233, 303, 305. 

" Robert, 79. 
Clute, Jeremiah, 71. 
" John, 71, 334. 
Coffee, William, 319. 
Cofteen, Henry, 315, 
Cohen, David, 103. 

" Jacob, 181. 
Cole, Edmund, 99. 

" H. W., 80, 81, 189. 
'* John C, 176. 
" Reuben, 28. 
" Spencer, 176. 
Coleman, A. N., 181. 
" Charles S., 301. 

Thomas, 17, 18, 24, 69, 316, 
319. 320. 
Ceilings, Henry, 133. 
Collins, Andrew D., 127, 135. 

" Cornelius v., 94. 

" Ebenezer, R., 160. 

" George R., 297. 

" Lucius, 301. 

" Michael F , 222, 226. 

" Thomas, 263. 
W. T., 300. 
Collison, R. C, 160. 
Colwell, Thomas, 22, 71. 
Conaty, Cornelius A., 315. 
Congdon, James H., 133. 
Conkey, Charles F., 21, 194, 196. 
Conkling, Allen, 348. 
Connolly, Edward J., 166. 
" John, 165, 166. 
Connors, Timothy, 136. 

" William, 228. 



35') 



Consalus, John, 334, 344. 
Converse, George G., 94. 
John, 43. 
" Josiah, 28. 

Perrin W., 12, 94. 
Conway, J. IL, 154. 
Cook, Alfred, 135. 
" Paul, 276. 
" Robley D., 297. 
" Thomas B., 247. 
Cooley, Lucius M., 22. 
Coon, D. W., 81. 
" Hiram, 124. 
" J. H.. 80. 81. 
Coonradt, Henry, 182. 
Cooper, Sylvester, 212. 

William S., 153. 
Corbin, Pliny M., 21, 246. 
Corey, John, 109. 
Corliss, Charles H., 77. 
" John A., 77. 

John M., 21, 77. 
Wilbur F., 77. 
Cornell, Joseph, 278. 

Latham, 17, 28. 
Corning, Charles W., 133. 
" Douglas, 86. 
" Erastus, 247. 

jr., Erastus, 305, 311, 312. 
" sr., Erastus, 180, 247. 305, 

311, 312, 314. 
" Gurdon, 16, 18, 201, 295, 

316. 
" James, 133. 
" William M., 20. 
Corse, Albert R., 135. 
Cottrell, Charles C, 9. 
Coutie, George, 279. 

" William, 279. 
Covell, Benjamin, 127, 237, 292, 294. 
" Lemuel, 25, 
" Silas, 24, 25, 127, 
" Stephen, 127. 
Covert, James C, 342. 
■' Madison, 342. 
Cowee, David, 22, 69, 92, 268. 
" Farwell, 92. 
" James F., 92, 178. 
Cox, David B., 18, 20. 
" D. B., 319. 



Cox, William, 122. 
Craft, Moses, 165. 
Cram, DeWitt C, 265. 
Cramer, George H., 23, 24, 178. 

John, 16, 171. 
Crampton, Albert, 156. 
Crandall, Joseph, 303. 

" Louis S., 169, 170. 
Crandell, Otis N., 62. 
Crawford, George A., 136. 
Crissey, Isaac W., 131. 

" William G., 18, 134. 
Cronin, John S., 319. 
Cross, George, 320. 
Crossen, Asa, 59. 
Cruikshank, Robert, 252. 
Cummings, Franklin, 320. 

M. F., 7, 30, 58, 92, 122, 
124. 
Cunningham, Alexander G., 263. 

" William O., 113, 231, 

319- 
Curran, James E., 146. 
Curtis, A. G., 72. 
" Caleb, 204. 
" H. C, 82. 
" Mary M., 72. 
" Montgomery G., 166. 
" Zachariah, 198. 
Cusack, Edward, 327. 

" James W , 298, 327. 
Cushman, John P., 16, 339. 
Cutler, Clarence B., 7, 253. 
Daggett, Joseph, 17. 
Dalliba, James, 339. 
Dana, Stephen W., 16. 
Danforth, Edward, 266. 
Daniels, Albe C, 149. 

Mary E., 333. 
Danker, Jacob, 199. 
Darling, Edwin E., 159. 

" Henry H., 20, 159. 
Dater, C. W., 85. 
" Jacob, 326. 
John, 346. 
" Philip, 326. 
Dauchy, Charles, 151. 

" Henry B., 123, 178, 349. 
" Jeremiah, 132, 242, 244, 270. 
John B., 349. 



358 



Dauchy, Nathan, i6, io8, 109, 133. 

" Samuel, 117, 159. 
Davenport, Nelson, 213, 319. 
Davidson, Gilbert C, 305. 

" Richard, 247. 

Davies, Richard, 32. 
Davis, Edward I., 153. 

" George R., 20, 236, 237. 
" Helen S., 246. 
" jr., Henry, 136. 
" Jonathan, 127. 
" John H., 246. 
" jr., Richard, 16. 
" J. Thomas, 146. 
•' Lemuel H., 151. 
" Thomas, 106, 107, 138. 
Daw, George P., 259. 

" Peter F., 66. 
Dearborn, Henry, 102. 
DeCamp, Henry, 238. 
John, 238. 
DeForest, David, 305. 
DeFreest, Albert, 236. 

" Charles R., 319. 

" Charles W., 192, 193. 

" Isaiah, 346. 

" James T., 193. 

" Jerome E., 132. 

R. M., 189. 
DeGolyer, Joseph, 303, 324. 

" Watts, 324. 
DeLancy, Charles D., 309. 
Delevan, Henry W., 43. 
Demarest, Samuel, 330. 
Deming, Henry A., 134. 

L. D.. 278. 
Dennis, Stephen A., 327. 
Derrick, S. Nelson, 133, 178. 
DeWinter, Bastiaen, 338. 
DeWitt, Simeon, 171. 
De Zouche, L. H., 53. 
Dibble, Charles, 209. 
Dickerman, James E., 85. 

L. H., 226. 
Dickinson, John D., 14, 16, 171, 187, 

339- 
Dickison, Daniel, 329. 
Disbrow, Charles H., 68. 
Doane, William Croswell, 113, 121, 
122, 123. 



Dodge, William T., 23. 
Doe, N. B., 332. 
Dolan, Edward, 237. 
Dole, James, 187, 198. 
Don, John, 20, 279. 
Donahue, William H , 135. 
Doolittle, David, 203. 
Doring, Charles, 12. 

Charles F., 328. 
Joseph C, 328. 
Dorlon, Elias, 17, 167. 

Philip S., 22. 
Doughty, William Howard, 12, 20, 174. 
Douglass, Alanson, 16, 17. 
" Benjamin, 203. 
" Charles S., 17. 
" Jonathan H., 330. 
Dow, Lorenzo, 204. 
Dowling, Thomas A., 138. 
Dowsley, K. B., 334. 
Doyle, M., 346. 
Drake, Charles F., 350. 

" Francis, 350. 
Draper, Frederick E., 289. 
" Stephen, 144, 145. 
" William H., 145. 
Dudley, Henry, 116. 
Dugan, Joseph P., 167. 
Duke, John, 24. 
Dummer, H. B., 285, 
Duncan, Charles, 50. 
Dunham, Calvin B., l6g. 
" Calvin B., 169. 
" Isaac W., 266. 

T. M., 85, 189. 
Dun, R. G., 203. 
Dunn, John, 302. 
Dunspaugh, Merrill, 288. 
Durfee, Z. S., 311. 
Durkee, Harrison, 17, 20. 
Dusenberry, Charles E., 18, 24. 

" Henry O., 160. 

Dyer, Clinton M., 189. 
Earl, Gardner, 22, 77, 287, 288. 
" William S., 77. 
" Willard, 339. 
Eaton, Amos, 73. 
" A. H.. 281. 
" Edward O., 51. 
" George E., 221. 



359 



Eaton, Orsamus, 50, 51. 
Eddy, Charles, i8. 
" Clarence, 251. 
' ' James A., 318. 
" Titus, 22, 212. 
Edgley, Thomas, 121, 133. 
Edmans, Fred. P., 2go. 
Edson, O. W.. 74. 75- 
Edwards, A. F., 256. 
" Jonathan, 201. 

R. W., 154. 
Efnor, John, iqS. 
Egberts, Egbert, 65, 68, 70. 
Eggleston, Zina P., 207. 
Egolf, Joseph, 153, 289, 320. 
Eldridge, Hezekiah, 203. 

Stephen, 242, 244. 
Elliott, A. B,, 222, 273. 
Ellis, Lyman, ig8. 
Marvel, 198. 
Ennis, George H., 276, 279, 305. 
Ensign, Perely, 229. 
Erben, Henry, 109, 261. 
Ericsson, John, 307. 
Evans, Henry, 121. 
•' C. P., 245. 
Everett, Edgar L., 9, 1S2. 

" Loienzo C, 9. 

Fairlee, George, 251. 
Fairwreather, James H., 160. 
Fales, Andrew B., 24, 283, 319. . 
" Francis A., 24, 252, 334. 
Joseph, 23, 337. 
Farnham, Charles W., 27S. 
Farnam, Franklin W., 24, 122, 124. 
Fassett, John V., 92, 94. 
Faulkner, Jonas C, 133. 
Feibel, Nathan, 180. 
Fellows, Abraham, 59, 327. 
A. C, 21, 75, 82. 
Ferguson, William, 235, 349- 
Field, Mary H., 270. 
Filer, Henry P., 319. 

" Zephaniah, 316. 
Filley, Marcus L., 156, 283. 
Finch, Andrew, 245. 
Firth, J. J., 137. 
Fischer, J., 72. 
G., 72. 
Fisher, George, 327. 



Fisk, L. C, 94. 

•' William L., 331. 
Fitch, Dennis M., 22, 114- 

Theodore C, 246. 
Fitzgerald, Edmund, 40, 201. 
*' John, 40. 

" Michael, 40. 

Patrick J., I35- 
Fitzpatrick, Philip, I54. 289. 

William, 153- 
Fitzsimons, Bernard, 349. 
Flack, Clarence, N., I45- 
Daniel H., I45- 
George A., 160. 
" Isaac G., 160. 
William A., 160. 
Flaag, John, 99. 

" John L., 57. 201, 319. 
Melzer, 114. 
Fleming, James, 22. 

" James G., 181. 
Flood, Roger A., 22. 
Fogarty, Cornelius, 346- 
Follett, Benjamin F., 319. 
Fonda, Douw, 64. 

" ■ James R., 237. 
Ford, Daniel W., 22, 300. 
" Hiram A., 137- 

Ira, 108. 
" S. V. R., 82. 
Forrest, Andrew J., 135. 
Forsyth, James, 41, m, 123, I74- 347- 

" Nelson, 267. 
Foster, Samuel, 102, 188. 
Fowler, A. L., 138. 

Thomas, 68. 
Fox, A. Gregory, 133. 

" Joseph, 189. 
Francis, Charles S., 219. 
John M., 218. 
William M., 345. 
Franklin, Benjamin, 103. 

John H., 189. 
Frank, Stephen, 209. 
Frazer, William, 237. 
Frear, William H., 20, 99, I47- 
Freeman, Edwin H., 246. 

George H., 21, 318. 
Jonathan W., 20, 237. 
French, Theodore F., 339- 



360 



Frink, Isaac, 338. 
Fry, George, 166. 

Fuller, Joseph W., 12, 24, 113, 123, 
271, 281, 318. 
" Martha W., 113. 
Fursman, E. L., 319. 
Gable, N. J., 48. 
Gabriels, Henry, 268. 
Gage, George, 334. 

" John, 334. 
Gaitley, John E., 136. 
Gale, Alfred deForest, 91, 298, 318. 
" Edward C, 228. 
" E. Thompson, 16, 23, 24, 57, 
91, 92, 133, 151, 174, 217, 
246, 256, 298, 300, 318, 319. 
" John B., 54, 92, 246, 318. 
" Mary, 246, 
" jr., Samuel, 92, 94, 138, 203, 

236, 245, 246, 277, 339. 
" sr., Samuel, 198, 237, 292, 294. 
" William, 92. 
Galligan, John M., 137, 138. 
Gallup, William H., 86. 
Galusha, Henry, 159, 213. 

" Elijah, 149, 

Gardner, George, 217. 

" Jefferson, 73, 75, 77, 207, 

271, 273. 
" Levi B. 135. 
" Nathaniel B., 153. 
Garner, Thomas, 67. 
Garnsey, J. Spencer, 18, 287, 319. 
Garrett, Elmer H., 77. 
Gary, William, 117. 
Gates, James P., 28. 
Gaynor, Patrick H., 153. 
Gay, Willard, 22, 318. 
" Willard F., 228. 
Geer, jr., Gilbert, 176, 184, 320. 

" William €., 176. 
Genet, Edmund Charles, lOi. 
Germain, S. W., 343. 
Gerretsen, Goosen, 323, 328. 
Gibbons, James, 338, 343. 
Gibbs, Albert B., 23, 156. 
Luman H., 23, 156. 
Gibson, George W., 278. 
Gilford, John, 303. 
Gilbert, Angelica, 270 



Gilbert, jr., Ashael, 10, 114. 
" Benjamin, 108. 

Edward G., 53, 319. 
" Frank, 22, 180, 335. 

Henry L., 155. 
" Joseph L., 116. 
" Liberty, 12, 21, 335. 
" Uri, 12, 17, 23, 24, 50, 51, 53, 
116, 201, 318, 319. 
William E., 53, 133, 319. 
Giles, S. W., 180. 
Gillen, Michael, 136. 
Gillespie, Jason J., 22. 
Gillis, G. H., 301. 
Glass, Robert, 5. 
Gleason, Dennis, 136. 

" Samuel O., 5, 22. 
Gnadendorff, Herman, 5. 
Godson, James Q , 137. 

" Thomas, 146. 
Goldsmith, Thomas, 328 
Goodrich, Charles S. J., 114. 

" sr., Samuel, 204. 
Goodspeed, Anthony, 24, 291. 
Goodwin, Simon, 127. 
Gordinier, H. W., 170. 
Gorham, Shubael, 187. 
" Stephen, 187. 
Gorton, Benjamin, 73, 198, 237. 
Gould, George, 319. 
Grace, John, 185. 
Graham, Henry, 209. 
Walter, 154, 
Granger, Austin, 74. 
Grant, E. F., 17, 20. 
" Gurdon, 10, 16. , 

L. D., 189. 
" Peter, 212. 
Gratz, Emanuel, 180. 
Graves, Aaron H., 160, 249. 
Frank B., 326. 
" Luther R., 22. 
Gray, Archibald, 204. 
Green, Albert H., 146. 

Charles F., 135, 137. 
" Chauncey O., 319. 
" Edward, 252. 

Edward M., 134, 178. 
Edward P., 135. 
Hannibal, 20, 178. 



361 



Green, Henry CI.. 124. 

J. Crawford, 137, 149. 
Moses C, 135, 178. 
Greene, David M., 20, 337. 
Greenman, Josiah, 217. 
(Gregory, Alexander, 68. 
Matthew, 329. 
William, 153. 
William M., 68. 
Grenell, Thomas, 117. 
Griffith, Lewis E., 153. 

P. G., 10. 
Grippin, William A., 302. 
Griswold, Chester, 311, 312. 
Frank B., 343. 
George, 155. 

John A., 20, 94, 151, 159, 
201, 257, 285, 307, 309, 
3". 312. 
John Wool, 12, 311, 343. 
Gross, Louis, 180. 
" Morris, 59. 
Gunnison, Albert C, 17. 
Gurley, Lewis E., 11, 12, 21, 28, 30, 
104, 271, 276, 287, 303, 318. 
" William, 18, 21, 30, 104, 131, 
174, 271, 318, 319. 
Hadley, Amos K., 319, 320. 
Hagan, Frank Covell, in. 

William E., 5, in, 133, 276. 
Hagen, Joseph J., 286. 

" William, 319, 320, 
Haight, H. B., 350. 
I. N., 192. 
" Ransom S., 142. 
" S. B.. 350. 

William D., 242, 244. 
Hakes, Jeremiah S., 17. 
Hale, M. D. Moses, 174. 
Hall, Aaron, loi. 
" Andreas, 124, 
" Benjamin H., 161, 318, 319. 
" John M., 315. 
'• Richard F., 133, 337. 
" William L., 275. 
Hallagan, John, 192. 
Hamblin, Myron C, 191. 
Hamlin, A. P., 274. 
Hanaman, C. E., 21, 305. 
Hanchette, John E., 153. 

47 



Hancox, C. D., 278. 

Handy, Isaac F., 134, 153, 298. 

Hanks, Alpheus, 33. 

Julius, 33, 103, 244, 33S, 343. 
" Oscar, 33, 104, 240. 
" Truman, 33. 
Hansom, L. O., 53. 
Harden, C. H., 289. 
Hardenbrook, Abel, 132. 
Harder, Frank P., 221. 

William A., 189. 
Hardin, T. L, 341. 
Hardy, George R., 232. 

" W. D., 287. 
Harmony, Peter, 67. 
Harison, Francis, in. 113. 
Harpham, Joshua, 108. 
Harrington, Joseph H., 153, 228. 
jr.. A. W., 22S, 298. 
Harris, John R., 319. 
Harrison, Albert, 137. 

George, 28, 183, 302. 
William W., 90. 
Hart, Betsy A., n, 245, 267, 318. 
C. W., 285. 
Isaac B., 17, 165, 256. 
Jacob, 165. 
Jacob A., 127. 
Mary E , 174. 
jr., Philip. 295, 339. 
Richard P., 10, 16, 18, 20, 201, 

127, 270, 339. 
William Howard, 174, 318. 
William, 339. 
William C , 14, 22. 
Jonathan, 339 
Hartt, Charles P., 16, 20, 22, 36, 242. 
Ilartwell, Charles E., 275. 
Harty, Thomas, 124. 
Harvey, Apollo, 28. 
Harwood, Grove M., 176. 
Hasham, Stephen, 59. 
Haskin, William P., 20. 
Haslehurst, Theodore E., 176. 
Hastings, G. L., 75. 
John, 350. 
Hathaway, S. A,, 331. 
Haverly, Sylvanus, 99. 
Havermans, Peter, 3, 9, 10, 54, 259, 
261, 268. 



362 



Hawley, Edwin P., 221. 
" Lemuel, 106, 295. 
" Ralph, 22, 316. 
William S., 221. 
Hay, Gurdon, 9. 
Hayner, Calvin, 23. 
" H. Z., 320. 

Irving, 319, 349. 
Haynes, L. M. S., 26, 28. 
Hazer, George W., 153. 
Heartt, Albert P., 163 
" Benjamin, 162. 
" Catharine, in. 
" Charles S., 163. 
" Emily Fitch, 246. 
" Jonas C, 16, 23, III, 131, 151, 

163, 201, 256, 300. 
" Jonas S., 23, 163, 346. 
" Philip, 36, 163, 217, 238. 
P. T., 20, 163,. 
William, 117. 
Heilbrunn, Isaac, 180. 
Heimstreet, T. B., 319. 
Ilemstraet Diederik, 64. 
Henderson, James A.. 2S5. 
J. C, 2S3. 
" William H. 319. 

Henry, H. Ashton, 113, 119. 

" Jacob, 279. 
Herrmann, Adolph, 161. 
Herman, Max. 84, 275. 
Herrick, Clinton B., 169. 

" Stephen H., 127, 
Herrington, Hiram, 344. 
Hey wood, Mary, 270. 
Hickok Ezra, 1S7, 329. 

" James, 14. 
Hicks, George W., 22, 199. 
Joseph, 345. 
'• M. W., 74, 75. 
" William, 345. 
Hill, Alonzo W., 154. 320. 
Hiller, Jonathan, 68. 
Hillebrandt, August, 223. 
Hillhouse. Thomas, 106. 
Hilliker, Edward, 147. ■ 
Hiliman, Isaac, 210. 

" Joseph, 22, 177, 262. 
Himes, J. W., 334, 335- 
Hinds, James, 199. 



Iliscox, H. C , 30. 
Ilitchins, John, 22. 
Hitchcock, Charles II., 136. 
G. A., 136. 
" George, 86. 
" James H., 33. 
Hobart, John 11., 109. 
Hoffman, Andrew, 331. 
Hogben, Edward, 154. 
Holdridge, Arnold H., 77. 
Hollands, jr., William, 341. 

William, 331, 341. 
Hollenbeck, C. E., 300. 
HoUey, Alexander L., 174, 309, 311. 

Orville L., 174. 
Hollister, William H., 160. 

" jr., William H., 12. 
Holmes, Charles A., 94, 319. 

Henry, 84. 
Holroyd, George E , 332, 334. 
James, 332, 334. 
William, 332, 334, 341. 
Horner. James, 305. 
Hopkins, E., 174. 
Horribin, W. T., 72. 
Horrocks, John, 70. 
Horton, George W., 278. 
Hosford, James L., 36. 
Philip D., 4. 
Hotchkin, A. L , 149. 
House, Abel, 23S. 

Edward O., 79, 80. 
" Elijah S., 22. 
'• Hiram, 17, iS, 77. 
" John, 16. 
" John M., 79. 
" Samuel A., 79. 
" William M., 80, 
Howard, Ezra S., 39. 
" William 17. 
Howe, Hezekiah, 66. 
" James H., 23. 
" John K., 23, 163, 344. 
Howes, William J., 23. 
Howland, Gardner, 231, 268. 
" Joseph, 229, 231. 

" Thomas, 231. 

Huylc, Philip, 209. 
Hoyt, James, 145. 

James B. , 349. 



3fi:5 



Hoyt, Stephen F., 226. 
Hubbard Ruggles. 145, 236. 
Hubbell, Henry R., 17. 
" Mark H., 134. 
Hudson, Daniel, 210, 346. 
" Samuel, 135. 

William H., 183. 
Huff, Philip, 320. 
Hughes, George, 229. 
Hull, L. H., 153. 
Humphrey, D. H., 22, 23. 
Hunt, Enoch, 210. 

" Robert W., 154,298, 311, 312, 

314- 
Hunter, Aaron, 160. 
" John, 160. 
Huntingdon, S. G., 199. 
Huntington, Elizabeth P., 270. 
Hurcomb, Walter F,, 192. 
Hurstfield, Charles, 40. 
Hurley, Thomas, 252. 

" . T. J., 252. 
Hutchins, Charles, P., 40. 
Hutton, Christopher, 14, 294. 

" sr., Timothy, 238. 
Hyde, Joseph, 153. 
Hydorn, Levi W., 153. 
Ide, Fred B., 85. 
" George P., 22, 82, 180, 275, 288, 
" James M., 82. 
" John C, 84. 
•' Samuel N., 77, 82. 
Ingalls, Hiram B., 20. 
" Sarah W., 270. 
" Truman E., 252. 
Ingersoll, Edwin D., 303. 
Ingram, Henry, 22. 
" James H., 134. 
" O. S., 137, 298. 
Institute, Rensselaer Polyteclinic, 171, 

347- 
Irving, James, 233. 
Irvin, William, 244, 249, 315. 
Isham, John P., 3. 
Israel, Aaron, 180. 
Jackson, Peter, 246. 
Jacobs, Jacob, 119. 
Janes, Elijah, 14, 187. 
Janvrin, L. H., 301. 
"Jefferson, Martha, 18. 



Jenkins, George W., 153. 
Jennings, Thomas J., 138. 
Jessen, John F., 189. 
Jewett, Gilbert W., 146. 
Johnson, Charles W., 167. 
" Elias, 17, 256. 

" J. c, 331. 

" Moses, 287. 

Noble S.. 25. 
" William, 233. 
" W. Irving, 300. 
Johnston, David J,, 67, 322. 

" Robert, 67. 

Jones, Charles H., 301. 

" Ebenezer, 16, 25, 33, 127, 316, 
" E. P., 12, 
" James Horace, 124. 
" John H., 342. 
" John M., 342. 
" J. M. Warren, 298. 
" Lewis, 212. 
" Martin H., 71. 
" Richard W., 342. 
" Richmond, 199. 
" Walter A., 342. 
Joslin, John J., 22. 
Judson, A. E., 62. 
C. T.. 62. 
" David, 62. 
Kane, N. T., 184. 
Kasson, R. N., 154. 
Keating, Thomas, 136. 
Keeler, Isaac, 329. 

" James S., 199, 
Keeling, Adam, 24, 25. 
Keenan, James, 181. 
Kehn, Elias, 21, 318. 
Keith, Isaac, 149, 201. 

" Robert, 346. 
Kellogg, Charles H., 17, 88, 90. 

Day O., 10, 174, 201, 256. 
Giles, B., 22, 316. 
" James H., 287, 302. 
" John B., 23. 
" Josiah, 117. 
" Justin, 319. 

Orin, 23. 
" Warren T., 72, 90. 
William P., 88, 90. 
Keliey, James, 34S. 



364 



Kelly, Henry, 347. 
" W. John, 177. 
" John T., 319. 
Kemp, James, 39 
" Martha E., 119. 
" jr., William, 213. 
" Rebecca C, 119. 
" William, 12, 23 39, 56, 119, 
201, 213, 271, 286, 318. 
Kennedy, Michael, 349. 
" William, 40. 

William S., 146. 
Kenyon, Riley W., 199. 

T. E., 296. 
Kerr, John, 17, 20, 247, 344. 

" R. A., 154. 
Ketcham, Hezekiah, 329. 
Ketchum, Joel, 204. 
Kidd, Archibald, 301. 
Kilmer, C. E., 86. 
Kimball, Charles P., 145. 
" Edmund, 145. 
" Henry D., 207. 
" James E., 24, 145. 
Kimberly, George H., 34. 
Kincaid, W. H., 296. 
King, Daniel B., 334. 
Eliphalet., 204. 
" Harvey, J., 12. 
" John F. , 330. 
Kinloch, Osman F. , 137. 
Kirsopjr., George, 23. 
Kisselburgh, William E., 219. 
Klein, John, 56, 
Klock, jr., Daniel, 24, 263. 
Knibbs, James 127, 134. 
Knickerbocker, Johannes, 264. 

John, 330. 
Knight, Caleb, 209. 
" Fitz Henry, 5. 
" Joseph, 35. 
" Joseph H., 315. 
" William, 302. 
Knower, Benjamin, 341. 

John, 341. 
Knowlson Alexander M., 5, 6, 7. 
" James S., 344. 

John, 348. 
Knox, John H., 177, 315. 
Koon, Henry, 321. 



Kosciusko, Thaddeus, 167. 
Kurth, W. H., 212. 
LaFayette, Marquis de, 199. 
Laker, Henry, 124. 
Lambert, John 294. 
Lancaster, Joseph, 264. 
Landon, Gardner, 10. 
" John, 19S, 203. 

John M., 146, 319. 
Lane, Aaron, 165, 316. 
" Dcrick, 165. 
" George T., 24. 
" Jacob L., 18, 20, 316. 
" Mrs Jacob L., 253. 
" J. Lansing, 133, 137. 
Matthew, 245. 
Lansing, Abraham Jacob, 186. 
" Abraham L., 321. 
" Frans, 64. 

Gerritt T., 338. 
" Hans, 64. 

" Hendrick, 64. 

" Jacob D., 10. 
" John V. S., 65, 69. 
" Levinus, 187. 
Lantrow, John, 326. 
Lape, F. N., 160. 
" Rufus, 283. 
Large, W. E., 160. 
Laseli, Elias, 10, 117, 166. 

" Samuel H., 96. 
Latham, William H., 136. 
Lawrence, George H., 342. 
" John L, 67. 

" Julius, 181. 

J. W., 156. 
Leach, Hosea, 149. 
Leahy, Edward F., 7. 
Leake, Frederick, 17, 20. 
Learned, Edward, 338. 
Lee, jr., Charles, 160. 
" George H., 151, 346. 
" William R , loi. 
Leet, Charles M., 153. 
Lefferts, W. P. 184. 
Leggett. John, 345. 

Joseph A., 345. 
" Stephen C, 199. 
Lcith, Alexander, J., 312. 
Lent, William A., 289. 



365 



Lesley, George, 165. 
Lester, Augustus, 17. 
Levy, Selig, 180. 

" Solomon. iSi. 
Lewis, Russell W., 132, 133. 
Lincoln, Jane Porter, 116. 
Link, Calvin W., 178. 
Lisk, Edward H., 252. 
Little, Samuel, 289. 
Livingston, Richard M., 145. 

Robert R., 276. 
Lloyd, James, 233, 

'■ James H., 134. 
Lockwood, Charles N., 12, 20. 
" jr., Thomas W., 168. 

" Hanford, N., 23, 132, 174, 

174, 201, 245. 
" Henry C, 23, 318. 

" Thomas N., 20. 

" Thomas W., 21, 318, 326. 

Lomax, Joseph D., 171. 
Loomis, Roxanna A., 318. 
Lovejoy, Isaac, 28, 
Lovett, John, 187. 
Loudon, John, 295. 
Low, Nicholas, 12. 
Loyzance, Joseph, 56, 261. 
Ludden, Patrick A., 259. 
Ludlow, Henry G., 12, 323. 
Lundy, James, 40. 
Lyman, E. C, 30, 154. 
Lynsen, David B., 198. 
Lyons, Lewis. 298. 
MacArthur, Arthur, 221, 226. 
MacArthur, Charles L., 103, 221, 225, 

350. 
Macbeth, Henry. 117. 
Macdonald, John A., 177. 

" William J., 134, 177. 

MacGregor, Donald, 247. 
Mackey, Cornelius, 224. 
" John, 136. 
W. G., 135- 
Mackie, Francis W., 24. 
Madden, Hubert, 136. 
Magill, D. F., 7, 22, 137. 
Thomas H., 181. 
" Zeph F., 183, 233. 
Maginnis, Sarah, 290. 

Teddy, 290, 311. 



Mahoney, Charles, 327. 
Mahony, Michael, 178, 345. 
Main, James T., 22. 
Mairs, John, 22. 
Mallary, Joel, 20, 21. 
Mallory, Henry, 295, 

" James, 270. 
Mann, David. 23. 

" Elias P., 133, 137, 259, 298, 

319- 

" Francis N., 1 14, 116, 201, 228. 

" jr., Francis N., 12, 23, 298. 

" H. R., 283. 

" T.. 17. 

" W. H., 178. 
Manne, Alexander, iSi. 
Manning, John A., 20, 231. 
" J. G., 350. 
" William H., 231. 
J. L., 287. 
Manogue, E., 259. 
Mansfield, W. K., 65. 
Manwarring, Annie, 207. 
Marble, Melville S., 134. 
'Marcy, William L., 295. 
Marks, Emanuel, 327. 
Markstone, Henry, 181. 
Marryatt, Capt. Frederick, 213. 
Marshall, Benjamin, 17, 170, 199. 
John A., 86. 
" R. C, 290. 
Martin, Marcus H., 266. 
Marvin, Selden E., 312, 314. 
Maschke, Edwin J., 12. 
Masten, James H., 66, 331. 
Master, W., 198. 
Mastodon, 67. 
Mather, F. O., 318. 

" John C, 22. 
Maude, John, 32. 
Maullin, Joseph, 79. 
Maxcy, Eaton W., 119. 
Mayell, Henry, 263. 
Maynicke, Henry, 133. 
McBride, John, 50. 
McCarthy, Charles, 22. 

" Peter, 201, 327. 

McChesney, sr., John, 237. 
McClintock, John, 267. 
McCollum, William, 189. 



366 



McConihe, A. D., 154. 

" Alonzo, 23. 

" Isaac, 16, 54, 174, 236. 

jr., Isaac, 201. 
McCoun, John, 107. 

John T., 16, 20, 133, 151, 
245. 316, 319. 

" John S , 10. 

" Samuel, 201. 

" Townsend, 14, 16, 18, 295. 
McCoy, Percy B., 134. 
McCrea, William T., 135. 
McCreary, Harrison B., 300. 
McDonald, John, 279. 
McDowell, George H., 70. 
McFarland, George H., 99. 
McFarlan, James, 109. 
McGrath, Charles H., 135. 
McHafie. Robert, 68. 
McKay, Joseph, 305. 
McKenna, Edward J., 135. 
McKeon, James, 135. 
McKown, James, 14. 
McLane, Susan N., 30. 

" William D., 30. 
McLean, John, 277. 

" Le Roy, 154. 
McLeod, Charles A., 1S4, 283, 344. 

" Harvey S., 279. 
McLoughlin, James E., 184. 
McManus, William, 4, 145, 321. 
McMillan, Alexander, 113. 
McMurray, Michael, 154. 
William, 189. 
McNamara, George H., 224. 

" David S., 17, 256. 

McNaughton, S., 137. 
McRae, Farquhar, 109. 
Mearns, John, 288. 
Mee, Barney, 311. 
Meeker, William A., 94. 
Meneely, A. H., 343. 

" Andrew, 343. 

" Charles D., 343. 

" Clinton H.. 34, 315. 
E. A., 343- 

" George R., 343. 
Merchant, M. F., 92. 
Merriam, Homer, 35. 

" J.O., 283. 



Merriam, William, 35. 
Merrill, Carlton H., 94. 

John V, D. S., 38. 
Merritt, Charles H., 256. 

" Daniel, 14, 107, 127, 147. 

" Henry A., 327. 

I. J., 319- 

" Isaac, 127. 

" Jacob, 10, 16, 339. 
Marvin, jr., Daniel, 207. 
Millard, E. W., 320. 
J. A., 267. 
Miller, Abram, 137. 

" Frank B., 275. 

•' H. B., 189. 

" Hiram, 17, 18, 30. 

" Justus, 23, 30, 274, 275. 

" P. F., 86. 

" William, 124. 
Milliman, N. B.. 319. 
Miner, Samuel, 198. 
Minkler, Albert, 137. 
Mitchell, Howard E., 154. 
Moffit, Hosea. 14. 
Molloy, Francis J., 160. 

James E., 160. 
Moncrief, Robert, 345. 
Montague, Bernard, 287. 

" Orlando, 74, 

Moody, Dexter, 57. 
Moore, Anson, 153. 

" A. B., 132. 

" A. R., 22. 

" Franklin, 135. 

" John P.. 349. 

" Joseph W., 154. 

" Ransom B., 35. 
Moran, John, 320. 
Morehead, James, 119. 
Moreland, James M., 72. 

William J., 315. 
Morey, Manley W., 160. 
Morgan, A. B., 18, 23. 

" Ephraim, 14, 237, 294. 

" Gideon, 329. 
Jonas, 187. 

" Roswell R., 135. 
Morris, Samuel, 349. 
Morrison, Alexander, 155. 
Edwin, 86, 137. 



367 



Morrison, George H., i8, 24, 102, 169 
" Henry, 22. 
*' James, 71, 72. 
" jr., James, 23. 
" John, 156. 
" Leonard, 170, 
Moseley, William F., 86. 
Mosher, Alfred, 21. 

George A., 232. 276. 
Moulton, Howard, 156, 198, 217, 270. 
Mount. Samuel B., 149, 182. 
Mowry, Leroy, 245. 
Moyles, Henry, 348. 
Mulford, Joseph N., 119. 
Mulligan,' Martin, 349. 
Mullm, Anthony T. E., I73- 

Joseph, 173. 
Munro, Alexander, 303. 

Stephen. 210. 
Munson, Edward G.. 334- 

Garry, 334. 
Murphy, jr., E., 22. 40, 57. 201, 221. 

sr., Edward, 40. 
Murray, Edward F., 2S9, 290. 
Myers, A. B., 146 
Charles, loi. 
John, 325. 
Nash, Abram, 245. 
Alfred B., 22. 
Michael, 262. 
Nazro, Henry. 133, 165, 178. 

John P, 16. 
Neafust, William, 199. 
Neemes, C. S., 348. 

" Joseph H., 348. 
" Spencer, 348. 
Neher, John H , 17, 22, 24. 

Philip H., 24, 30, 174. 
Neil, George, 70. 
Nelson, Joseph, 64. 
Newman, John L., 70. 
Nichols, George F., I77- 

" James H., 21. 
Nimmo, Charles A., 303. 
Nims, Henty B., 35. 
Norris, Frederick H., 297. 
Norton, John T., 305. 

" K. S., 79- 
Ober, M., 85, 275. 
O'Brien, Charles, 301. 



O'Brien, Frank, 315. 
O'Donnell, Barney, 124. 
" Thomas, 142. 

Ogden, G. Parish, 14- 
" Gouverneur, 14. 
" John G., 337- 
Olin, Job S., 23. 
Oliphant, Duncan, 329. 
Oliver, G. W., 50. 
O'Loughlin, Dennis, 137. 
O'Neil, James, 23, 62. 
Oothout, Hendrick, 155. 
Jonas, 155. 
Volkert, 155. 
Orr, Alexander, 230. 
" Alexander M.. 231, 302. 
" Frederick W., 231. 
" S. Alexander, 22S, 231. 
" William, 229, 230. 
Orvis, Joseph U., 17, 23. 
Osborne, William, 117. 
Osgood, Jason C, 131. 

" Martha Brandon, 102. 
Ostrander, Francis A., 24, 346. 

James, 345, 346. 
Ostrom, Thomas L., 10, 14, 207. 
O'Sullivan, J., 84, 275. 
Otis, George H., 154, 288, 298. 
Ouderkerke, Cornelius, 64. 
Packard, Angelo S., 38. 
Augustus, 38. 
Chauncey D., 38. 
Davis, 38. 
Eugene C, 38, 137. 
Timothy, 38. 
Warren P., 38. 
Packer, George A., 23, 62. 
Pafraets, Maria, 2. 
Page, Benjamin F., 154. 
" Edward N., 70, 71. 
" Freeborn, 160. 
" F. H„ 160. 
Paine, Amasa, 270. 
" Eliza A., III. 
" E. Warren, iii, 231, 302. 
" John, 10, 16, 20, 54, 339. 
" John W., 302. 
Palmateer, R. D , 331. 
Palmer, George, 245, 329. 
Parker, Frank L., 134. 



368 



Parker, William S., io6. 
Park, Austin F., 276. 
Parks, Sidney W., 145, 146. 

" Stephen, 84. 
Parmelee, Elias, 171. 
Parmenter, F. W., 34S. 

" Jerome B., 221. 

Parris, J, J., 301. 
Parsons, J. H , 68. 
" L. S., 68. 
Patchin, Thaddeus W., 16. 
Patten, Jacob H., 288. 
Patterson, Charles E., 344. 
" George, 136. 
" Thomas W., 192, 350. 
Pattison, E., 108, 109. 

•' Elias, 10, 16, 339. 
G. B., 228. 
Patton, D. O., 85. 

William N., 85. 
Paulding, Commodore, 307. 
Pawling, Albert, 16, 201, 237, 295. 
Payfer, George M., 154. 
Payne, Martin, 135. 
Peabody, F. F., 81. 
Pease, A. S., 221. 
" John, 198, 294. 
" T. W,, 68. 
Peck, Alfred G., 71. 
" Delavan, 348. 
" Eleazer A., 177. 
" Isaac, 113. 
Peckham, Reuben, 94, 231. 

William M., 94, 136. 
Peebles, Hugh, 16, 106, 295. 
Penniman, S. J., 189. 

William C, 64. 
Perry, Bennett, 213. 
" George H., 24. 
" John S., 12, 199, 264, 325. 
Peterson, S. A., 62. 
Pe'ctit, John, 329. 

" Phineas S., 146. 
Phalen, Patrick, 96, 99. 
Phelps, Jonas H., 104. 

" Mrs. Lincoln. 116. 
Phillips, Elias, 181. 
" George H., 22. 
" James L., 32. 
" Ralph, 160. 



Phcenix, Mary Whitney, 121. 
Pierce, Alfred H., 298. 
" Hiram D., 154. 
" Jeremiah, 106, 198. 
" William, 236. 
Pierson, Job, 20. 

*' John B., 20. 
Pine, A. J., 18. 

" James K. P., 20, 189, 191, 
" J. LeRoy, 296. 
Piatt, Daniel W., 36. 
" Ebenezer, 36. 
" John P., 226. 
" William. 327. 
Plum, Elias 17, 201. 

Frederick, A., 263. 
" Henry H., 136. 
Pollock, James, 136. 

" Philander, 192, 350. 
Pomeroy, George Q., 17. 
Porler, John F., 287. 
Potter, L., 283. 

" jr., Nathaniel, 23. 
Powers, Albert E., 102, 189. 
" John, 261. 
" Nathan B., 1S9. 
Robert, 238. 
William, 189. 
Pratt, J. Hyde, 276. 
" Robert J., 276. 
Prentice, J. R., 38. 

William H., 28. 
Prescott, Ebenezer, 199. 
Price, Cicero, 116, 31S. 
'' John, 28. 

Williard M., 192. 
Prime, Jacob A., 246. 
Proudfit, Ebenezer, 94, 173. 
" Margaret E., 247. 
Purcell, John J., 320. 
Purdy, A. H., 289, 2go. 
Putnam, Elisha, 309. 
Quackenbush, Gerrit, 96, 133. 

" Gerrit VanSchaick, 95, 

96, I33. 
Quinn, Timothy, 289. 

" William F., 349. 
Quirk, Michael J., 135. 
Quiggin, George, 140. 
Rainey, Elijah, 338. 



369 



Rand, Gardner W., 28, 114. 
Ranken, David M., 154, 337. 
Hugh, 18, 131. 
" Henry S., 23, 69. 
" John, 23. 
" William, 137. 
W. J., 30, 69. 
Robert B , 6q. 
Ransley, W.H.. 136, 
Rappaport. Markus W., 32S. 
Ratio, Antonio, 124. 
Raymond, Joshua. 14, 15. 

L. W.. 149. 
Read, Aaron, 246 

" Arba, 22, 40, 201. 
" Benjamin. 57. 
" Charles H., 237, 319. 
" Thomas. 40. 
Reardon, John, 279. 
Redfield, L. R., 92. 

" Sidney A., 316. 
Reed, Leonard, 127 132. 
" Samuel, 199, 
William, 252. 
Reid. E. W., 349. 
Reilay, Gilbert, 20. 
Reilly, Charles A., 262 
Remick, Ninian B., 225, 249. 
Reynolds, Noyes H. W , 17. 

W. H., 57. 
Rhodes, Joseph H , 57. 
Rich, William, 246. 
Richards, Charles L„ 325. 
Charles R., 17. 
" Gershom, 316. 
" Lewis, 108, 109. 
" Rufus, 16. 
S. F.. 199. 
Richardson, Jonathan, 231. 
Richmond, Charles L., 167. 

" Volney, 22. 

Rickerson, Le Roy, 145. 
Seward, 166. 
Riley, Michael, 135. 
Ritchie, D., 62. 
Ritter, James C, 300. 
Roarke, Francis. 227. 
Robbins, Nathan, 338. 

William H., 2IO. 
Roberts, Ralph B., 117. 

48 



Roberts, William, 198. 

Robertson jr., Gilbert, 236, 237, 259, 

319- 
" William, 319. 

Robinson, Daniel, 57, 94, 256. 
" George S., 84. 

" John A., 94. 

Rockwell, Mary A., 119. 
Roemer, Charles F., 153. 

" N. J., 56, 119. 
Rogers, Andrew, 342. 
" B. P., 23. 

Charles H.. 176. 
" Charles M., 301, 
" H. C, 312. 

John, 128, 132. 
" John W., 136. 
" M. W.. 151. 

" R. J., 346. 

Root, Andrew J., 68. 
" Josiah G., 68. 
" S.G., 68, 70. 
Rorabach, John W., 283. 
Rose, Andrew L., 156. 
" Brownell B., 159. 
Ross, Elias, 23. 

" Stephen, 295. 
Rourk, Thomas, 276. 
Rosseau, Achille J., 199. 
" Benjamin A,. 24. 
" Henry, 167, 173. 
" John, 36. 
" Lewis, 114. 

Lewis A., 63, 133, 178. 
Rowe, A. D., 275. 
" Benjamin, 203. 
" William H., 275. 
Rowell, Charles S., 343. 

" Simeon, 199, 343. 
Rowland, Thomas F., 309. 
Roy, James, 341. 
" John F., 41, 341. 
" Peter, 342. 
Rumbold, James, 57. 
Rundell, Lyman J., 247. 
Russell, A., 22; 

" Charles B., 20. 
J. L.,298. 

Joseph, 17, 270, 3 [6. 
" Winslow, 124. 



370 



Russum, J- C., 209. 
Ryan, John, 136. 
Rysdorph, Lyman, 136. 
" Martin, 263. 

Sage, William F., 20, 21, 335. 

•• A. N., 133. 
Sagendorf, George H., 23. 
Salisbury, Amos, 127, 295. 
F. W. 349. 
" Henry C, 137, 167. 
Salmson, P. H., 327. 
Sampson, Albert A., 23. 
Sands, William S.. 151. 
Sanford, Samuel B., 20, 84. 
William M., 178. 
Sargeant, Samuel G., 212. 
Saul, Julius, 61, 62. 
Saunders, Robert, 2, 186, 188. 
Sawin, T. P., 242. 
Sawyer, Andrew, 345. 
" J. E. C. 207. 
Saxe, Charles J., 79. 

" M. D., 50. 
Saxton, Gordon B , 242 
" Philena F., 242. 
" S. B., 242. 
Schermerhorn, Harrison, 349. 
" Norman, 137. 

Schmidt, C. F. A., 153. 
Schoonmaker, Edgar P. 249. 

" M. D., 323. 

Schoppe, Bernard, 262. 
Schroder, James D., 233. 
Schuyler, Clarkson C, 319. 
John S., 338, 340. 
" Nicholas, 106, 107, 316. 
" Peter S., 340. 

Philip, 155. 167, 337, 339. 
" Philip Pielersen, 323, 328. 

" Stephen I., 290, 311. 
Scoby, Samuel, 204. 
Scott, E. W., 334. 

" I. Seymour, 135, 146, 2S9. 
" jr., John, 70. 
" Moses, 16. 
Scranton. E. S., 203. 
Seeger, E., 124. 
Seitz, Emil, 1S4. 

'* Robert, 136 
Selden, Charles, 14. 



Selden, George M., 318. 
" Joseph D.. 16. 
" William J., 94. 
Seligson, Sigismund, 181. 
Servat, Nicholas M., 198. 
Sexton, Samuel, 146. 
Seymour, Ashbel, 229. 

" C. A., 153. 

" Henry I., 297. 

" Israel, 28, 303. 

" Walter J.. 303 
Shacklady, Cardinal H.. 7. 

" Christopher W., loi. 

Sharp, James E., 146. 

" John E., 288. 
Shattock, William, 121. 
Shaw, William, 146. 319. 
Sheffer, Charles E., 86. 
Sheldon, Fredeiick A., 28. 

" H. C, 5. 
Shepard, George W., 135. 
'• William A., 23. 
Sherman, Charles G., 224. 
" W. A., 201, 279. 
William H., 96. 
R. W., 277. 
Sherrerd, John M., 134, 314. 
Sherrill, Elizabeth, 270. 
Henry W., 327. 
Sherry, Arthur G., 159. 
" James H., 159. 
" John, 159, 232. 
Shields, Hamilton L., 29S. 

" Thomas H., 300. 
Sickles, Thomas, 198. 
Sidney, J. C, 54. 
Sill, Calvin S., 133. 
Silliman, Benjamin, 125. 

'• Robert D., 17, 18, 133,242, 

244. 
Levi, 333. 
Sim, F. W., 328. 
Sims, Edward H., 163. 
" Francis, 17. 
" George F., 20, 204, 298. 
Simmons, Daniel, 71. 

J. F., 22, 153. 
•' Jonas, 71. 
Simpson, E. W., 229. 
Singseim, John, 153. 



371 



Sinsabaugh, Charles C, 350. 
" George W., 350. 

Skillman, George E., 189. 
Skinner, Roger, 16. 
Slason. Alfred, 245. 
Sleicher, John A., 219. 

" jr., William, 302. 
Slocum, Hiram, 201, 267. 
Smart, Andrew J., 231. 
" Joseph, 231. 
" foseph W., 231. 
" R. T., 231. 
Smith, Adam R., 20, 21, 22. 
" Albert, 72. 
" Amy, 124. 

" A. V. G..344- 

" Benjamin, 16, 238. 

Bernard N., 153. 
" Charles, 236. 
" Fannie Burdett, 116. 
" George, 212, 
" George B., 121. 
" George D., 183, 298. 
" H. K., 199. 
" Harvey, 22, 69, 335. 
" Henry C, 203, 204. 
" Henry F., 35. 
" Hiram, 21. 
" Lampson, 192. 
'• Lansing, 134. 
" Leonard, 149. 
" Oscar, 273. 
R. G., 160. 
" R. M., 85. 
' ' Samuel, 321. 
" Thomas, 136, 329. 

W. Stone, 23, 116, 283. 
" William, 16. 
" William S., 67. 
" William T., 229, 324. 
Snively, Thaddeus A., 117. 
Southwick, Daniel, 151. 
" Edward, 247. 

" Lewis L., 134. 

Spencer, James, 326. 
" W. H., 321. 
Spicer, George A., 85. 
Squires, David, 19S. 
" John, 84, 134. 
" Norman B., 23, 24, 159. 



Squires, John N.. 103. 

'Robert, 84. 
vStamper, Henry, 167. 
Sfai.cill. R. W., 57. 
Stansfield, William 1".. 252. 
Stimton, Edmond, 137. 

Patrick M.. 136. 
Stackpole, Joseph, 63. 
Stantial, James, n6. 
Staples, Abraham, 147. 
Starbuck, George H., 12. 
" Nathaniel B., 134. 
" R. H.. 345. 
Si arks, Independence, 74. 
Starkweather, Richard D., 88. 
Starr. Samuel, 316. 
Statzel), H. C, 81. 
Stearns, James W., 301. 

H. W., 301. 
Steelman, H. B., 28. 
Steenherg, George T., 146. 
Stevens, F. H., 319. 
" George A., 31-,. 
R. H., 203. 
Stevenson, James M., 319. 
" William, 22. 

W. H., 160. 
" W. John, 21, 160. 

Stewart, John, 16. 
*' Joseph, 70. 
" Peter, 109. 
" Samuel, 14. 
" William, 209. 
Stiles, Benjamin F., 301. 
Stillman, Byron. 177. 
" Wait J., 177. 
Wait II., 29S. 
Stimpson , William, 20. 
St. Jermain. Anthony, loi. 
Stockwell, Henry, 316. 
Stoddard, Elijah W., 7, 134. 
Stone, Charles R.,*22, 62. 
" George A., 20, 23. 
St. Ostrom, H. I^., 349. 
Stratton. A. M., 2S3. 
Stoughton, Livy, 316. 
Stout, E. B., 320. 
Stow, Frederick A., 121. 

" Silas K., 20. 
Stowell, Henry, 252, 



372 



Strait, E. Smith, 167 
Streeter, L. D., 283. 
Strong, Henry W., 319. 
" Latham C, 319. 
Sutherland, Charles II. 35. 

" Thomas S., 35. 

Suydam, Ferdinand J.. 20. 
Swasey, Edward R., 18, 212. 
Sweet, Miles, 90. 
Sweny, A. H., 342. 
Swett, Fred W., 283. 

•' George W., 286. 
Sweney, A. H., 342. 
Swift, John Joseph, 262. 
Sybrandt, W. H., 249. 
Symonds, Thomas, 22, 285, 335. 
Talmadge, Elisha, 38. 
Tanner, A. G., 184. 
Tappan, Arthur, 203. 
" Cornelia, 102. 
" Lewis, 203. 
Tappen, Shepard, 17, 18, 24, 276. 
Tappin, Samuel C. 119, 328. 
Tarboss, W. H., 137. 
Tayloe, Phebe Warren, III. 
Taylor, George M., 169. 

" Mahlon, 125, 229, 350. 
" Newman W., 301. 
" Tracy, 16, 17, 20, 24. 
*' William, 7. 
" William D., 153. 
Ten Eyck, Abraham, 92, 316. 
" Jacob H., 192, 348. 

Terry, Thomas, 136. 
Thalimer, Peter, 121. 
Thayer, Francis S., 57. 
Theunissen, Sweer, 2. 
Thomas, James B., 57. 

John, 10. 
Thompson, Charles W., 22. 
" George S., 159. 

" I. Grant, 319. 

" James L., 69, 298. 

JoelB., 138. 
" John C, 311. 

" John L., 23, 92, III, 159. 

" John I., 20, 92, 123. 

M., 189. 
R. D.. 218. 
" William, 303. 



Thompson, William A., 24, 92. 
Thorn, James, 201. 

" William E., 65, 67. 
Thome, Arthur, 151, 346. 
Thuey, Alexander, 246. 
Thurber, Augustus A., 178. 

" Benjamin, 292. 
Thurman, Richardson H., 17, 18, 20, 
69. 
" Sarah, 103. 
Thurston, Joshua, 233, 
Tibbits, Benjamin, 14, 92, 155. 
Dudley, 12, 24, 319. 
" Elisha, 155. 
" George, 92, 109, 127, 155, 

201, 339. 
" George M., 54, 58, 116, 256, 

265. 
" John B., 174. 
" Thomas M., 23. 
William B , 289. 
Tilley, Arthur, 136. 

George W., 349. 
Tillinghast, Charles W., 11, 12, 24, 
57, 121, 133, 165, 228, 
298, 318, 319. 
Thomas A., 116, 165. 
Joseph J., 20. 
Tillman, Christopher, 187. 
Tim, Louis, 84, 275. 

" Solomon, 84, 275. 
Timpane, Michael, 59, 327. 
Titus, Piatt, 54, 140, 264, 301. 
Tobey, J. S., 346. 
Tolhurst, Charles H., 194 

" William H., 194. 
Tompkins, Albert, 137, 184. 
Clark, 183. 

D. D., 231. 

E. D. G., 117. 
" Ira, 184. 

William C, 186. 
Torrance, William M., 156. 
Townsend, Eli, 207. 
" Henry, 127. 

Martin I., 7, 22, 316. 
Tracy. Edward, 24, 189. 
" Jedediah, 16, 171. 
" Jesse, 245. 
Trautwein, John, 326. 



373 



Travell, Ira R., 247. 
Treanor, James, 341. 
Tremain, John M., 333. 
Trenor, Thomas, 16,40. 
Trimble, Thomas T., 24, 
Trusdell, Chester, iq8. 
Tucker, Henry O'R., 218. 

J. Ireland, 7, 119, 121. 
Tupper, John II., 62, 298. 
Turner, Thomas, 298, 305. 

William W.. 86. 
Tuthill, DeWitt, 56, 319. 
Twining, Frank B., 82. 
Tylee, Edward, 25, 181. 
Tyler, George, 136. 

" George L., 136. 

" Isaac, 303. 
Tyner, W. J., 224. 
Uline, R. H., 137. 
Usher, John, 209. 
Vail, A. €., 334- 

" Aaron, 12, 16. 

" D. Thomas, 17, 54, 57, 94, 256. 

" Ezra, R., 14, 41, 298. 

" George, 10, 16, 17, 94, 132, 245, 
246. 339. 

" Henry, 20, 94. 

" Jane, 246. 

" Jeanie E., 246. 

" Martha Card, 246. 

•' Moses, 127. 

" Phebe Bloom, 246. 

" Phebe H.. 246. 

" Samuel McCoun, 246, 300. 

" Townsend M., 134, 245, 246. 
Valentine, Alonzo C, 153. 
Van Alen, Evert, 340. 
" John E., 14 

Van Alstyne, Richard H., 177. 

William L., 18,201, 268. 
Van Arnam, Charles H., 176. 

" John M., 232. 

Van Arnum, John, 301. 
Van Auken, David H., 67. 
Van Benthuysen, M. W., 70. 
Van Brackle, James, 108, 109, 163. 
Van Buren, Jan, 292. 
Van Buskirk, John M., 196. 
Van Corlaer, Arent. 2, 337. 
Van Curler, Arent, 337. 



Vandenburgh, John E., 154. 
Vandercook, C. E., 345. 
Van der Heyden, Abraham, 290. 
" David, 3, 181. 

" Derick, 3, 132. 238, 

290. 
Derick Y., 9. 
" Jacob, 3. 

" Jacob D., 9, 15, 24, 

54, 55. 88, 181, 
204,232,237, 238, 
242, 290, 292, 294, 
322, 326. 
" Jacob D. E., 33, 103, 

300. 
Jacob I., 290, 292. 
Jacob M., 149. 
Mary, 24. 

Matthias 3, 125, 290. 
W. D., 213. 
Vanderheyden, P. F., 178. 
Vanderlip, Elias, 204. 
Van der Poel, Wynant Gerritse, 305. 
Van der Werken, John I., 329. 

" Roeloft Gerritse, 329 

Van Evern, Martin, 193. 
Van Every, W. H., 177. 
Van Hovenburgh, D. M., 331. 
Van Ness, A,, 128. 
Van Olinda, J. E., 29S. 
Van Rensselaer, Hendrick, 154, 
" Jan Baptist, 2. 

" Jeremias, 337. 

" John, 187. 

" Kiliaen, 2, 64, 155, 

337- 
" Richard, 337. 

Stephen, 54, 155, 171, 

174 
" William P., 32, 173, 

174, 227. 
Van Santvoord, Seymour, 298. 
Van Schaick, John S., 298. 
Van Schoonhoven, Guert, 14, 171. 
" Jacobus, 329. 

" James, 16, 94, 

" J. Lansing, 22, 23. 

94. 319- 
" William H., 23. 

Van Tuyl, Abraham, 20. 



374 



Van Vechten, jr., John, 94. 

Van Valkenburgh, Lawrence, 22, 273. 

Van Volkenburgh, J. M., 8u, 81. 

Van Weely,.Anna, 64, 337. 

Van Woggelum, Pieter, 2. 3, 186, 305 

Van Zile, E. S., 228. 

Oscar E., 20, 63. 
William P.. 86. 
Veazie, Charles, 51. 
Veghte, Edwin, 302, 
Verplanck, Philip, 3. 
Viele, A., 212. 

" Stephen, 155. 
Viets, Herbert A., 281, 
Vilas, Samuel H., 94. 
Volentine, D., 22. 
Voorhees, Theodore, 303. 
Vosburgh, A. O., 325. 
Wadsworth, Horace H., 331. 
Wager, Alexis. 65. 

Edward A., 137. 

" George H., 66. 

" James, 22, 283. 
Wait, E. F., 23. 

Tosiah A., 24, 62. 
" L. H., 62. 
Wakeman, Henry, 342. 
" John, 70, 

" S. Bradley, 342. 

Wales, Edward R., 137. 

" Frederick K., 192. 

" Philip M., 154. 
Walker, James E., 312. 
Wallace, Gurdon B., 4, 319. 

" James, 207, 

•' Uriah, 242, 244, 

Wallerstein, E., 84, 275. 
Walsh, Charles R , 90. 

" James R., 263. 

" Michael, 167. 

" R. H., 136. 
Ward, Aaron, 187. 
" R. H., 305. 
Wardwell, James, 300. 
Warhurst, George, 69, 70. 
Warner, Charles, 22, 236. 

" Ebenezer, 22, 236. 

" Lucius, 236. 
Warren, Alanson, 271. 

" Edward Ingersoll, iii. 



Warren, Eliakim, 106, in, 119. 
" Eliza Atwood Tibbits, 113. 
" Esaias, 16, 109, in, 138, 

201, 339 
" George B., 20, 151, 173, 174. 
" jr., George B , 20i, 319. 
" George Henry, 121. 
" Henry, 169. 
" John Hobart, 23, 113, 174. 
Joseph M., 16, 23, 24, 57, 
181, 201, 165, 318, 335. 
" Martha C, 109. 

" Mary, 119, 121. 
" Mary C, 12I. 

" Moses, 23. 
" Nathan, 16, 108. 109, III, 

119, 121, 270, 339. 
" Nathan B., 121. 
" Phebe, in, 119. 
" Stephen, 10, 16, iS, 109, in, 

117, 181. 339. 
" Stephen E., 54, 121, 256. 
" Stephen R., 16, 108. 
•* Walter P., 12, in, 123, 165, 
281, 298, 300. 
William H., 165. 
Warwick, James. loi, 
Washburn, Jeremiah, 57. 
Wasson, Robert, 140. 
Waterman, Frederick Y., 
" George, 70 
" Marcus M., 149. 
Waters, Clarence W., 189. 
" Elisha, 189 
" George A., 189, 
Watrous, Andrew, 301. 
Watson, Elkanah, 186, 292. 

" William M., 137. 
Weatherby, N. L., 233. 
Weatherwax, Barney, 209. 
Webb, E. Coleman, in. 

" Isaac, 316. 
Webster, Charles R., 229. 

" George, 229. 
Weed, Alsop, 20. 
" Darius, 114. 
" Henry E., 22 
" Jared S., 20, 57, 246. 
" Mary S., 246. 
Weir, Robert, 69. 



875 



Weir, R. W., I2i. 
Weise, A. J., 7. 36- 
Weld, Joseph, 321. 
Waller, John, 198. 
Wellington, Charles M., 22. 
Wells. George, 320. 

Ira. M.. 92, 199 203, 316. 
Philander, 16. 
" Thomas 136. 

Thomas S., 199- 
Wemett. Oliver, 325. 
Wemp, Jan Barentsen, 2. 
Wendel. August, 311. SM- 
Wendell, Joannes, 186. 
"M. E., 192. 
Nathan D., 192. 
Robert, 1S6. 
West, George, 124. 

Jared, 343, 
Westervelt, E., 321 
Weiherbee, Abel, 199. 
Wei more. Frederick, 303. 
Whelan, Dennis J., 337- 
Wheeler, Abijah, 338. 
David, 339, 
Henry, 22. 
John. 28, 245. 
William, 88. 
Wheelock, Joseph, 274. 
Whipple, William W., 10, 207. 
White, Grace L., 11. 
Henry. 300. 
John H., 319 
" John W.. 74. 75. 77- 
" Joseph, 174, 319. 
William, 198. 
Whitbeck, John H., 298. 
Whitlock, John H., 298. 
Whitman, W. W., 237. 324. 325- 
Whiting. Elizabeth, 270. 

Ruggles, 43. 
Whiton, John, 114. 
Whyland, Calvin, 192. 
Wickes, Asa W., 23. 

" Stephen, 174. 
Wight, Arthur M., I37- 
Daniel, 245. 
" David, 245. 
Wilbur, H., 86, 331- 
G. W., 86. 



Wilbur, James C, I34- 

John S., 189. 
Wilcox, Emily, 271. 
Wild, Alfred, 67. 
Wiles, Thomas S., 191. 347. 348. 
Wilkinson, Joseph B., 23. 
jr., T. B., 320. 
Willard, Clarence, 38, 244, 318. 319- 
Emma, 268, 270. 330. 
John, 268, 270. 
John D., 17. 
John H., 116. 270, 289. 
John Hudson, 116. 
" Moses. 203. 
Samuel, 149. 
Sarah L., 270. 
William T., I34. 146, 237- 
Willett, jr., Elbert, 198. 
Williams, Allen, 160. 
" Alvin, 231. 
" Hezekiah, I33- 

Jonathan T., 210. 
Nathan, 236. 
Pelham, 113. 123. 
Williams, R. J., 259. 
S. M., 212. 
R. D., 252. 
Wills, Charles, 349- 
Willson, T. Newton, 3. 
Wilson, Allen B., 271. 
Arthur R., 77- 
C. E., 290. 
Ebenezer, 321, 322. 
" jr., Edward, 245. 
"Nathaniel, 271. 
Theodore A., 38. 
Samuel 321, 322. 
S. C, 252. 
" Washington, 77. 
Wing, D. A., 160. 
Winne, John E., 350. 

Moses I., 140- 
Winslow, John P., 121, I73, I74, 305. 
307. 309. 3"- 
John IL, 349- 
Winters, E., I37- 

Jacob, 137. 
Wiswall, Ebenezer, 339. 
Witbeck, Henry W., 342. 
James M., 300. 



376 



Witbeck, Thomas L., 309 
Wolcott, G. D., 278. 
Wolfe, Gurdon G., 281. 
Wood, Jacob C., 38. 
" Joseph A., igg. 
" Stephen, 321. 
Woodruff, Charles S., 287. 

" George P., 271. 
N. T., 199. 
Woodward, Benjamin, 203. 
Woodworth, John, 14, 198, 236. 
Wool, John E., 55, 256, 300. 
Worth, W. E., 130. 
Worthington, John, 23, 62. 
Wotkyns, Alfred, 22, 201. 

" Alfred A., 133. 

" George Dana, 22, 63. 

" Tom S., 22, 62. 
Wright, A. M., 305. 



Wright, C. E., 296. 
" Franklin, 163. 
" Lucius, 18. 
" Sidney, 137. 
" Theodore, 246. 
Wynkoop, George W., 349. 
Yates, Jacob, 155. 
Young, E. T., 349. 

Frederick S. , 53. 
George, 54. 
" James, 327. 
" J. L., 263. 
" J. T., 263. 

" William H., 7, 23, 35, 36, 174, 
265, 319.327. 
jr., William H., 213. 
Yourt, William R., 318. 
Yvonnett, Francis, 109. 



ADDENDA, 



CHURCHES. 



Rev. J. O. Lincoln, rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 1886. 

Rev. E. S. De G. Tompkins, assistant minister, St. John's Episcopal 
Church, 1886. 

Rev. Eben Halley, D. D., pastor of Second Street Presbyterian Church, 
November i, 1886. 

Rev. Charles F. Hand, pastor of Vail Avenue Baptist Church, 1886. 

Rev. Oscar F. Safford, D. D., pastor of Universalist Church, 1886. 



BUSINESS FIRMS. 

NiMS & Knight, (H. B. Nims and Joseph Knight,) on February i, 
1886, succeeded H. B. Nims & Co., booksellers and stationers, Nos. 9 and 
10 Cannon Place. 

The Troy Daily Press, office and publishing department removed to 
the Weed Building, on the southeast corner of Fulton and Fourth streets. 

The Troy Daily Telegram, office and publishing department re- 
moved to No. 415 Fulton Street, between Fourth and Fifth streets. 



ERRATA. 



On page 253, first column, line twenty-four, read Mrs. Jacob L. Lane. 
On page 314, first column, thirteenth line, xzzA four instead of " three." 



49 



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